


Pretty Venom

by Go_get_Jakes_gun



Series: Favourite Place [1]
Category: Norse Religion & Lore, Thor (Comics), Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU, Child Abuse, Duty, F/F, F/M, I don't think I have a PG fic out on here, Incest, Intersex Angerboda, Intersex Jarnsaxa, Intersex Jotunn (Marvel), Intersex Loki (Marvel), Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Loki Odinson - Freeform, Loki was raised by Laufey, M/M, More Incest, Mpreg, Multi, Past forced pregnancy, Pregnancy, Read at Own Risk, Royal Duty, Soulmates, Thor the thot, and I'm not starting now, bad language, because DAMN Thor is fine, loki in disguise, not marks or anything, probably a lot of sex, running away and realising you made a huge mistake, they just are, thor is stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:08:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 21
Words: 32,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23672821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Go_get_Jakes_gun/pseuds/Go_get_Jakes_gun
Summary: Bor started it, in all fairness. Odin continued it, and now it is Thor's turn to make sure that Asgard has a royal ward in each kingdom with close ties to the royal family. He's been through every realm except for Jotunheim, after which he will gladly make his way back to Asgard to become king and marry his long-time love, Sif.Only, when he arrives, he stumbles into a man called 'Loki' and he can't take his eyes off of him the entire damned trip, even as he is supposed to be bedding Loptr and NO ONE ELSE BECAUSE IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR HIM TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE CHILD/BATCH OF CHILDREN IN EACH KINGDOM..Also: Loki REALLY doesn't want to give birth to some mysterious stranger's (who happens to be his half-BROTHER'S) child, so he decides to run away but winds up bumping into Thor anyways. He is immediately captivated by Thor's charm and good looks and winds up following him back to Utgardr in disguise and fighting Jarnsaxa (who the Jotnar have disguised as Loki) for Thor's attentions. Chaos ensues.
Relationships: Angrboða | Angerboda/Loki (Norse Religion & Lore), Balder/Karnilla, Fandral/Hogun/Sif, Farbauti/Laufey (Marvel), Farbauti/Loki, Frigga | Freyja/Odin (Marvel), Jarnsaxa/Thor (Marvel), Laufey/Odin (Marvel), Loki/Thor, Loki/Thor (Marvel), Loki/others, Odin/Others, Sif/Thor, Thor/Others
Series: Favourite Place [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741081
Comments: 147
Kudos: 143





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was, in part, inspired by Blueskin by Lang. If you haven't already read it, you really should: here https://archiveofourown.org/works/17472596/chapters/41147576

The seed of Bor’s line rang strong through the Nine Realms. It was Asgard’s way of dominating every single realm under its control. It had started when Bor assumed the throne: he had mated with eight different women, producing royal heirs for their respective lands, before deciding that Bestla’s son would be the one to take over Asgard for him when his reign was over. Sure, he could have had an Asgardian wife, and had an Asgardian heir, but he hadn’t really thought it fair given how much sleeping around he did with other women. In time, Odin would think back on this and dub his father as something of a ‘womanizer’, not that the tradition died down once he was out of office.

Then it came Odin’s turn. There was only one problem though: he was already married, and very much in love with his wife. Frigga smiled kindly at him, and gave him her blessing. It was the most peaceful way for Asgard to assert its dominance over other realms, after all, and she was all about peace. The tragedy, he supposed, came when he had his own child with Frigga. His name was Baldr, and he was the most beautiful being imaginable… but Odin knew immediately, that this son would not be his heir, and Frigga seemed to think that too. And so, Odin had plucked his young son with Midgard’s ruler, Jord, and dubbed Thor the ‘heir to Asgard’. Thor was, of course, less ecstatic than he should have been, as was to be expected from one as young as he when he was taken away from his mother, but he soon grew into the role and forgot his bitterness and resentment towards his father’s family, even becoming close friends with Baldr.

There were his other children too, of course. His son with Freyja of Vanaheim (who happened to be his brother’s wife, Vé hadn’t taken it too well but had accepted his fate when Odin had come knocking on the door to fulfil his duties as King of Asgard), Vali. His son with Laufey of Jotunheimr (Laufey had been very unwilling in this, he had to admit), Loptr. His son with Grrr of Musspelheim, Jrrr. His daughter with Estia of Svartalfheim, Mylla. His daughter with Gia of Nidavellir, Arsha. His daughter with Grenice of Alfheim, Lula. And his son with Molly of Niffleheim, Lodge.

Now that Thor was about to be crowned, it was time to spread his own influence throughout the realms. He’d been to Niffleheim, Alfheim, Nidavellir, Musspelheim, Svartalfheim and Vanaheim. They didn’t really need all that much influence on earth nowadays, especially as it was under Thor’s protection anyways, as a son of it. All that was left was Jotunheim, and then Thor could come back, be crowned, and find a nice Asgardian girl and be settled. Or man, but Thor’s preferences tended towards women, Odin had noticed much to his chagrin that most of these women were of a full bust and wide hips. Oh well, Thor was a fertility god, it was hardly a surprise that he liked such women. The only thing that was even remotely redeemable about that was that personality-wise he tended to go for more independent women, women who were intellectual and could think for themselves. It was a saving grace, honestly, because Odin did _not_ want an airhead queen as his glorious wife’s successor. Nobody would ever be able to top Frigga, but her successor had to be somebody at least _half_ as good as her!

Odin’s first choice for Thor was Sif. Sif was a glorious, _glorious_ young woman who would suit Thor very nicely. Top of her class at school, and a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. _She_ was a suitable candidate for Queen… actually, he should add that to his stipulations, Thor couldn’t be crowned without marrying Sif first. He’d wanted to, but Frigga had swatted him upside the head and scolded that trying to force them would only make them shy about each other, that Odin needed to let nature take its course with the pair. Odin had grumbled that she wouldn’t understand, that she didn’t _care_ about playing with Sif and Thor’s future children. She’d withheld sex from him for a month and a half for that. He’d had to come crawling back on his knees to apologise to her. It was embarrassing.

So yes, Thor was going to be sent to impregnate prince Loptr of Jotunheimr. Usually, he would be impregnating someone _else_ in Laufey’s family. For example, Odin had impregnated Laufey, sure, but he had not been Bestla’s son, he had been her nephew, so even though there was already blood there, it wasn’t enough to damage whatever fragilities might exist in Jotun DNA which had time and time again proven to not be as strong as Asgardian DNA. When Thor had going to Svartalfheim, he had impregnated the half-sibling of Mylla, Ardinia. The reason that Thor was going to impregnate Loptr, and not one of his half-brothers like Byleistr or Helblindi, was that Laufey had purportedly taken a commoner to bed, Farbauti, and Odin did not want to waste Thor’s time sullying their bloodline with Jotnar if they weren’t even properly of noble blood. After all, these children weren’t meant to be heirs, they were meant to be wards, they solely existed for show. What was the point of having a mongrel pony?

.

Loki placed the last of his things in a space pocket. He glanced around his bedroom one last time.

All throughout his life, Loki was raised as the unwanted child of Laufey Nalson. Byleistr and Helblindi had gotten whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it. If Loki so much as made a peep, Laufey and Farbauti were certain to remind him of how grateful he should be that they didn’t discard him in a temple at birth for his small size.

Loki was a runt, through and through. He knew, of course, that he was a son of Odin, and that that _technically_ should have been enough to give him half-blood status, but Odin himself was a half-blood, and 3/4 giant was mostly giant.

Odin was the reason that he was running in the first place. Or more specifically, it was Thor. Thor, his half-brother, more favoured by Odin than even his son with his wife. Thor Odinson, the man who would be arriving any day now to impregnate him. Loki shuddered, closing his legs. He had only had sex six times in his life, he had never even _thought_ of having a child! He didn't want this life, fuck these people, they’d never done anything for him! OK, that wasn’t true, his brothers had a soft-spot where he was concerned, but they hid it behind masks of pure unadulterated apathy, just like everybody else in this blinking realm! He was out, _peace_!

He walked out of the door. Nobody would question him. They’d think he was just off making mischief and being Loki, or Loptr as they called him. No, he was going, going, _gone_!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you get mad at me for starting yet ANOTHER story when I have like six in this fandom alone that aren't finished yet, hear me out: the muse wants what it wants, there, I said it. Now you can complain.
> 
> (Also, as I mentioned, there's a bunch I need to get done, so updates on this will be slow. I had an order that I wanted to finish my stories in in my head, and I don't know whether to do this parallel to them, or before them, we'll see how it all pans out.)


	2. Chapter 2

Loki had it all planned out. He was going to go into the Ironwood, where his on-again-off-againboyfriend lived, and camp it out with him. And by camp it out, he basically meant move there, because there was no doubt that Laufey would disown him for this one. After all, if Thor came to Jotunheimr and Loki wasn’t waiting to be impregnated, Asgard would likely either steepen the terms of their treaty, or declare a full-out war. He highly doubted that even his brothers would forgive him for something like that.

He walked across the high snow. _Wow_ , he’d never seen snow this heavy, not even after he and Angrboda broke up the last time. What in the Nine was going on here?

.

“What do you mean he is gone!?” Laufey didn’t pale, but he _paled_.

“We can’t find prince Loptr anywhere,” Beli said.

“Well, find him!”

“We’ve searched the entire city, my lord, as well as surrounding ones, he has simply vanished.”

“No, no, this cannot be! The Odinson is expected to arrive in two days, dammit! Do you know who took him!?”

Beli looked down at his shoes nervously. “Um… actually, my lord, we have reason to believe that he ran away. Everything in his room, save for the furniture, is gone.”

Laufey cursed. “Of course! Of course that fucking ungrateful runt would abandon Jotunheimr in a time like this, after everything that we have done for him! You know, _I_ didn’t want to give birth to him either! My father had to strap me down for it! He can spread his legs for sorcerers and merchants and whores, sure, but not for a _prince!_ Gah!” Laufey threw one of the spears he kept beside his throne into the ceiling. “Find him, and when you do, bring him to me in chains. He will not get off so lightly for this one!”

“Aye my king, but what shall we do in the meantime? Odin will not accept a delay on this.”

Laufey thought for a moment. “Odin has never seen him. Not since he was born and it was confirmed that he was, indeed an Odinson… all he knows is that Loptr is a runt.” His eyes widened. “Go to my brother-in-law’s kingdom, bring me his son, Jarnsaxa.”

“Aye.”

.

It wasn’t a good idea to walk during a storm like this, Loki thought. So he resolved to instead find some shelter and wait it out. The snow was so thick that he couldn’t see where he was going. He reached a hand out and groped around futilely in a desperate attempt to make sure that he didn’t walk into any trees. His hand his something thick, and he turned the other way when suddenly there was a hand gripping his tightly.

“Who goes there!?” A deep, ominous voice commanded. Oh no, this was one of his father’s guards surely. He was about to be in a world of deep shit.

“Ummm… Loki, uh,” they couldn’t see him, might as well.

“Thor! You’re scaring the poor thing! Don’t you know how to behave when you’re in a foreign realm!?” The voice had a… different pitch to the first. If this was indeed Thor of Asgard, then that would be, what? A woman?

He acted fast, he shifted slightly, using his seidr, to give him different heritage lines that were a half-thought-out amalgamation between his own and Angrboda’s, as well as horns that were just a little curvier. Now, instead of regal, he looked like a peasant might.

“Thor?” He breathed. “As in, the king of Asgard,” he said it on purpose, knowing full well that Thor wasn’t king yet.

Through the storm, he heard thunderclap. “I am prince still. Do you know how to get to Utgardr?”

“Why certainly, just keep going in a straight line and take a left once you reach the canyon.”

“Bah! We cannot travel in a storm like this,” Thor grumbled. “You! Stay with us and guide us when this storm is over!”

“ _Thor_!” A third person, a man, hissed. “I am so sorry, I apologise for my brother. But if it would be alright with you, could you please help us find a place to wait out the storm and then show us the route to Utgardr?”

“I can’t. I have somewhere that I need to be,” Loki said, sticking his nose in the air like the prince he was, except that literally nobody could see him do so.

“How are you going to get _wherever_ in this storm, commoner?” A fourth voice joined in. Also a man, but he sounded crass and cruel.

That was a good point. “Uhmmm…”

“Just come with us, it will not last more than a day, surely,” Thor said, and Loki knew that the man’s word was basically law in these realms.

“ _Fine_! But then I shall show you the way to Utgardr and you shall leave me be.”

“Take care of whom you are talking to _Jotunn_ ,” that fourth voice growled. “Thor is the prince of Asgard, and could have a peasant like you killed in a heartbeat. It would do you well to remember your place.”

Loki gulped. Thor was _also_ his half-brother, as well as whoever the second man was’s half brother. It would do this fourth person good to know that he was speaking to a child of Odin Allfather himself.

And so, a reluctant Loki joined the party of Asgardians searching for Utgardr. They were barely a day’s walk away. Loki was confused, of course, why the bifrost (yes, he knew of it) hadn’t just placed them directly into Utgardr. He wanted to ask as much, but feared giving himself away. Who knew what repercussions he would face were he forced back into the kingdom.

They found a cave a little while’s away. They were shivering and close to death. _Good_ , Loki thought, _serves them right_!

He lit a fire and took a look at his newfound company. There were four of them indeed. One was a woman, she carried herself in a way that looked effortless, and wore ceremonial war garb. She must be a Valkyrie.

Then there was a mean-looking man who was bigger than the other three. He had black hair and wore a snow leopard’s skin across his hulking shoulders. That must be the rude one.

That left the two blondes. The one who was smaller than the other men must surely have been the nice one.

His eyes drifted over to the… the third man, the final man. Loki’s heart beat heavily. He was 6”3, he wore chainmail and a red cape, and he was **_gorgeous_** … though he would probably look better without the beard. He could feel the drool building up at the corner of his mouth. This? _This_ was his half-brother, Thor!? This was the man whose child he was supposed to bear!? Well, come to think of it, it couldn’t **_hurt_** to bed the man at least once. Did he mention the muscles? Oh, that man’s muscles, **_mmm_** , Loki could chew on those for days. He felt himself grow wet. Fuck his original plan, he’d just go back to Utgardr with them and shape shift back into his normal form, present himself as Loki, and make sweet, _sweet_ love to the man. Mmmm, and those hands, he _must_ have a big dick. Loki could hardly wait!

The woman let out a chuckle, and Loki’s head snapped in her direction. Oh no, she had caught him staring. Their eyes met, and she smiled coyly, before looking the other way. Fuck.

“Tyr, when are we supposed to be there again?” Thor asked.

“Tomorrow. I’d say we’re just on time. We could make it if the storm subsides by tonight.” The mean-looking one replied. Tyr… he knew that name from somewhere.

“Mayhaps it is a better idea to have Heimdall send them a message?”

Loki froze. Oh crap. _Heimdall_! He had almost forgotten about the many-eyed man. He was probably going to think that Thor had gone missing given the amount of seidr he used to shield himself from the man’s view.

“So, Lackey, tell us about Jotunheimr,” the woman asked.

“What?” She drew him from his thoughts.

“Tell us something. If we’re going to sit here all day, there’s no point in being bored as well. Tell us, have you been on many quests?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Brunnhilde,” Try rolled his eyes. “Look at him, he’s a **_runt_** , the only thing they’re good for is taking cocks up their cunt!”

Loki flushed, a mix between embarrassed and furious. Thor smacked him upside the head, “Tyr, please try to be polite for just _one_ day!”

“It’s true. Have you ever been to a brothel on this planet? It’s packed with them.”

Loki’s blood boiled. “We do other things too, you know. Runts as whores are only common to foreigners because men from far away lands, such as yourselves, are too small for regular sized Jotnar!”

“Not too small for father,” Tyr chuckled as an aside to Thor.

Loki expected Thor, the noble, brave, chivalrous crowned prince of the Nine to smack him again. Instead he laughed too. Loki fumed, blushing from ear to ear. Maybe he really had dodged a bullet by abandoning his post. Maybe it really was better that he not be involved with such a self-centred egotistical fuckboi.

He looked back, Brunhilde even had a smirk playing on her lips. Baldr was the only one who looked even remotely ashamed. ‘I’m sorry,’ he mouthed in Loki’s direction.

Loki slept that night, plagued with dreams of the war that was about to start because of him. He didn’t care about most of it, of course, what had Jotunheimr ever done for him? But… but his brothers could be harmed… oh well, it was too late to go back now. And besides, they would’ve wanted what was best for _him_ , right?

Right?


	3. Chapter 3

Loki spent the entire day staring at the handsome asshole. Thor had made no move to apologise to him. Fine, have it your way, Loki wasn’t going to be hung up on him. No, he wasn’t going to go and try to cosy up to Thor, not when the man was in the corner with Tyr doing Norns’ knew what.

Brunnhilde had gotten her wish. Loki reluctantly entertained them with stories of his brothers’. How they had once brought down a Bilgesnipe so big it could have swallowed Midgard whole. He may have embellished the truth on that one, and also, he called them ‘the princes’ just incase they heard these stories.

“Tell me of my half-brother, runt.” Thor spoke. Oh wow, what a way to get someone to do your bidding. What a _fine_ king he’d make. On second thought, Loki really had dodged a bullet. A devastatingly handsome bullet, but a bullet nonetheless.

“Prince Loptr?”

“Aye.”

“Why do you care?” Loki asked bitterly. “You’re only here to bed him and leave.”

“It is none of your mind why he cares, just tell us what you know,” Tyr said firmly. _Urgh_ , he was starting to think that Tyr was a bad influence on Thor. Thor should just spend more time with prince Baldr, Baldr was the best!

“Fine. He’s a runt, he has hair, the end.”

“You know nothing else?”

“What would I know, I am a peasant.”

“You do not seem pleased with my line of question. Did you once know him? Are you friends no longer.”

Loki was getting really sick of these questions. “I am from the North. I lived in Thrymheim under king Thrym. _Loptr_ is of Utgardr, under Laufey.”

“Then how do you know the way there?” Brunnhilde asked.

“I travel. What is this, an interrogation?”

“Mind your tone!” Tyr hissed.

“He’s right, Tyr. This isn’t an interrogation,” Baldr glared at Tyr. “Thor, brother, you are behaving as though you are drunk! All of you are! And I know for certain that _I_ didn’t pack any mead, so which one of you has it?”

Thor reluctantly produced a flask from his rucksack. And then another, and then another. Loki blinked. He’d never seen so much mead before… well, he’d never seen _any_ mead before. Jotunheim was more ‘Ice Wine’ than mead.

“I apologise for my brothers’ behaviours,” _Oh_.

“They are… both your brother?”

“Yes. Thor’s my father’s, Odin’s, son with Jord. Tyr is his son with Helga of Asgard.”

“I thought that you were your father’s son on Asgard,” Loki frowned, then internally winced because they might wonder how they knew that.

“I am. I am his son with the Goddess Frigga. But he had Tyr before he met my mother.”

“Oh… is Frigga not of Vanaheim?”

“How do you know so much about our mother?” Thor frowned, seemingly suspicious.

“I am a seidrmadr, I know of all the great mages across the lands.”

“She is of Vanaheim, but given that they were already married, she was counted as his Asgardian wife, since she was his ‘at home’ child bearer. Father then had a child with her sister, Freyja, to secure our Vanaheim lineage.”

“Why are you telling him all of this? What use is it to him to know the inner-workings of our family,” Tyr looked down upon Loki as though he were trash.

Loki simply shrugged. “You yourselves said that just because we were stuck here didn’t mean we needed to be bored. I consider myself very not-bored.”

Tyr didn’t like him, that much he could tell. Neither did Brunnhilde. They weren’t wrong to not trust him. Baldr was probably nice to everyone. Thor was an asshole, but he was drunk apparently and he knew how people got when they drank.

He noticed that Baldr had walked out over to their bags and confiscated another twelve flasks. “Why so many, brother? You’ve left barely any space for your clothes.”

“Isn’t it obvious? He’s about to breed a Frost Mutt. He doesn’t want to be conscious before, during, or after the intercourse,” Tyr howled, his dark eyes gleaming with tyrannical mirth. He wondered if that was what they called him: Tyr the Tyrannical. It was fitting for a man like him.

“Aye,” Thor nodded, groggily. “That I do not.” He admitted.

“Well if it’s any consolation, I highly doubt that Loptr Laufeyjarson wants anything to do with you either. He’s being forced into this, you know. He doesn’t want to be carrying some stranger’s child,” Loki hissed.

“I thought that you didn’t know him,” Baldr stated, clearly taken aback by the outburst.

“No, but I know people like him, forced into fates that they don’t want. And Laufey’s court isn’t all that thrilled with your family. Not since your father forced himself upon him.”

“Father wanted it no more than he did! But he had to, it was for the good of Asgard!” Thor said, glaring daggers into Loki.

“You Asgardians are so full of yourselves! You do not _need_ wards in each kingdom, your military might alone is enough to prevent an uprising.”

“We do not wish to take chances, just because your realm is too weak to challenge our military doesn’t mean that others are.”

Loki spent a half of an hour sitting in a corner fuming. These three men may have been his brothers, but they were nothing like Helblindi and Byleistr. Helblindi and Byleistr were good men, Baldr was too, he supposed, but Thor and Tyr? Ha! He pitied the fate of the Nine Realms of this drunk barbarian was to lead them!

“So, where are you heading?” Baldr asked, finally, in a last-ditch effort to smoothen out the atmosphere.

“I am going North, back to my home in Utgardr.” If they ever discovered that he was prince Loptr then it was probably better for them to _not_ know where he was going.

“Oh, do you have family there?”

“No, I was cast out as a child, but I live with a friend.”

“A giant?”

“He’s a half-breed, so he’s more my size.” Why was he telling Baldr all of this? There was something about this damned man that made him want to only ever speak truth. _Urgh_ , never mind, he had just decided that he hated this half-brother too.

“That’s nice. How long will your journey be?”

_Don’t look in his eyes, don’t look in his eyes, don’t look in his eyes._ “Two days, three at most. Do not worry for yourselves though, yours is only a days walk if the storm subsides.”

“I fear that it won’t,” groaned Thor aloud, as though Loki had been talking to him. How arrogant. “Norns, father will kill me if I mess this up.”

“Maybe your daddy shouldn’t be picking your bed-partners.” Loki rolled his eyes. Fuck Odin, what had he ever done for him? Given him a ring on his hundredth birthday, as well as two parents who hated him, that was what.

“Take care of how you speak of Odin Allfather, runt,” Tyr growled. Ullr, that man was like a dog on a chain, always barking and frothing at the mouth.

“Tyr!” Baldr exclaimed. “Leave him be, dissidence is accepted!”

“Not from some peasant-born runt of a Jotunn it is not.”

“Funny, I thought that your father was half Frost Giant.”

“You will _not_ speak about my father-!”

“Enough!” Thor bellowed. “Maybe it would be better for everybody involved if none of us were to speak again until the sun comes up and the snow stops.”

Damn, Thor was scary. Loki hated how arousing Thor’s angry voice was to him, but he complied nonetheless. Stupid Aesir, _boy_ was he glad he was mostly Jotunn! Baldr gave Thor a weary look, but complied with him. Tyr, stubborn as ever, merely hurrumphed, stood with a swing of his legs, and matched across the cave to go and sit with Valkyrie who had wisely exited the conversation as soon as she had heard Loki’s boring stories about the princes. Thor went to go and join them.

The storm did not stop that night.


	4. Chapter 4

Loki was convinced that there was some kind of magic involved here, because by all means Thor was a repulsive man: he snored, he talked loudly, and he was barbaric; and yet Loki was attracted to him nonetheless, in fact, it was these things that made him even _more_ attracted to him.

_Focus, Loki, you’re almost in the clear. Just wait until the storm ends and point them in the direction of Utgardr, then you’ll be free_!

Except that the storm didn’t clear the next day. It subsided _ever so slightly_ , and looked as though it would pick right back up in an hour or so.

“Quick! There is no time to waste. We must leave today or we shall be late to Utgardr.” Valkyrie ordered, packing up her bag.

“I thought that you sent a message through,” Loki said, groggily.

“Yes, but that was two days ago, and we were supposed to be there by this afternoon. Also, we do not really have much food to go on, so _unless_ _you boys want to_ ** _starve_** _,_ we better make a move on.”

“Uh, oh, OK. Um, just walk… just walk south of this area and take a left once you reach the canyon.”

“Wait,” Thor pleaded with him, uncharacteristically kind of him. “Please, don’t go. I am sorry, but this storm is terrible, and we will undoubtedly get lost again, we need your expertise.”

Loki’s retort died on his tongue the moment that he looked at Thor. _Urgghhh_! Would it kill the guy to lose a few limbs? No, that would only add to the rugged-hotness that simultaneously possessed. Seriously, fuck Thor! No, but really though, he wanted to. He supposed, in hindsight, that he had a thing for hunks with rubbish personalities. Why else did he keep running back to Boda? Even now, he was on his way to him. They’d likely hook up and Boda would cheat on him again or tell him he needed space, _again_. What was the harm in delaying the inevitable ever so slightly?

“Alright, fine. But I must really leave as soon as this is over.” Loki sighed.

.

It was a day’s walk to Utgardr. The snow was beginning to thicken again about three hours into their travel.

“We are almost at the canyon,” Loki announced.

“So, tell us about the land. Why are there not more trees?” Thor asked.

“Well, it’s an ice planet.”

“Aye, but surely plants that thrive in the ice would have adapted to this environment.”

“There is a wood not far from here- actually, in the direction which I was originally headed.”

“Ah, I would wish to see it before my departure. I hate it when there isn’t anynature around.” Of course, his brother was a fertility god, mainly for agriculture but it seemed as though Odin had other plans for him.

“So, runt, did your parents disown you?” Tyr asked, abruptly as was his style.

“Tyr!” Baldr, Thor and even Brunnhilde scolded.

“No, I ran away. They wanted to marry me off, I didn’t think so,” no reason why his lies couldn’t merely be embellished truths.

“That is unfortunate,” Thor said, wrapping an arm around Loki in solidarity, making Loki shudder. Grr, Thor was so manly, he’d never think he was attracted to bears. Now that he thought about it, Angrboda was also pretty dominant and controlling. Maybe he just had daddy issues? “I mean, being forced to fuck people is pretty bad, but being forced to **_marry_** someone…”

“But you are to be King of the Nine, surely your father has arranged your marriage.”

“Well, he’s been pretty lenient with me. I think he is fond of the woman _I_ intend to marry, Sif. She is the most intelligent and beautiful woman in all of the Nine,” I could be that for you, “and she is also an exceptional warrior. She would be an excellent role model to young girls, and a lovely mother to our children.”

“You sound quite smitten with her,” Loki said, through semi-gritted teeth.

“Why yes, ever since I was a child I’ve found her endearing at worst and downright perfect at best,” Thor said, dreamily, oblivious to Loki’s glare. Good thing the snow was too thick for anybody near them to make out Loki’s actual expression, but he guessed that the Valkyrie knew because he could _feel_ her smirking. Grr, she was infuriating.

“That’s nice. Does she approve of you having children outside of wedlock?”

“Yes, she knows the whole deal. That’s why I’m so anxious to finish my bedding duties now. Then I can begin a relationship with her, and I never would have cheated on her.” That was… sort of sweet. Loki’s fists tightened involuntarily.

“So nice of you to cherish _someone_ , given all of the people you’re going to abandon with your child.”

“Mind how you speak-!” Tyr started, but Thor waved his hand at his brother.

“I understand that while you do not admit it, you and Loptr seem to have a close connection. I do not know _why_ you choose not to share it, but I figure it’s your business. But please, do not be spiteful for this. It is not an ideal situation for anybody involved, preventative measures never are, but it keeps the people safe. Loptr and I are of nobility, it is our sworn duty to keep those we serve safe.”

“And what of you? Will you not mourn for the children you will not see grow to maturity, or will they simply never run through your mind again?”

“I do not know,” Thor admitted. “I had long thought that this was an impersonal task, but a few decades ago I discovered a little box that my father keeps, full of photos of all of his children and messages from each of them. I know he has to put on a brave front for the people, but I can’t imagine my father not missing them. Mother convinced him to send them all a ring for their 100th birthday, customised so that it would be a reminder both of the realm that their existence serves to protect as well as the realm they were sired of.”

“How arrogant that he would assume they would want a reminder of Asgard,” Loki said, bitterly.

“Have I done something to offend you?” Thor asked, suddenly. “Everytime that you hear of Asgard, you are bitter. Look, I apologise for all the wine I drank and how I am when I am drunk, but it wasn’t you. How would you react to having to fuck your half-brother who happens to be intersex to get him pregnant? What would you have done, had you been in my shoes?”

“Ran away,” Loki’s voice betrayed no hint of irony.

“Well I can’t, I am to be king. Everywhere else, it wasn’t someone related to me through blood, here it isn’t even a cousin, it’s my _brother_! I mean sure, he is undoubtedly a haggard beast, but Baldr is my half-brother too, as is Tyr, I would never fuck them.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sure he’s just as unwilling for this to happen. Maybe you ought to go back,” Loki felt sick. It wasn’t worth starting a war over. How come everyone else could be loyal and faithful to their lands, but he was the cowardly one? He was the one who had to escape duty. He was the one who had to write his own story.

“Aye, and I would not blame him if he had a few.”

“He wanted to. He was told that it would be bad for the baby to come.”

Thor chuckled. “I knew that you knew him. Is that where you’d come from? Did you guys just break up?” Loki probably imagined how vicious we sounded.

“No, I just happen to know him. Trust me, Loptr and I are no more sexually intimate than you and a tree… actually, I would like to take that back, I do not know you well enough to make that comparison.”

He could hear Baldr and Brunnhilde laughing behind them. Tyr had no sense of humour, so it was no surprise that Loki could feel him stewing behind Baldr and Brunnhilde. Thankfully, Thor took the joke lightly.

“I am no tree-fucker, that I can assure you. I can not be so sure about yourself, though. With your surly disposition I can imagine you’ve had to get your fair share of wood from a tree.” Thor fumbled the last bit, clearly embarrassed over how sad that poor attempt at a diss was.

“How rude of you to assume I bottom,” Loki winked, though he doubted that Thor could see him.

Thor chuckled. “Well, I suppose that it would be exceptionally hard for you to get around on this planet as a bottom. I mean, the average man’s girth here would split you in two.”

“I could just visit one of those whorehouses they keep other Jotnar in, the ones you and your brother mentioned.”

Even through the white of the snow, Loki could see Thor’s blush. “Um, I apologise for those words, I get quite rowdy when I drink, and I’ve been drinking a lot lately, it’s just-”

“And yeah, I like it up my cunt,” Loki whispered in Thor’s ear lasciviously. He could feel Thor shudder. Thor gave him a quick look and snapped his mouth shut. Oh no, had he gone too far? Urgh, he was so stupid! a) He shouldn’t want the Thunder D, b) he’d turned away from court life as of two days ago. Thor was only allowed to have _one_ heir on Jotunheimr, and he wasn’t going to waste that opportunity on someone whom he thought was a peasant. If anything, he’d probably take Byleistr or Helblindi as his Jotunn consort.

They reached the canyon in silence and made the long-famed left turn for Utgardr. Just 18290 steps left.


	5. Chapter 5

Jarnsaxa was being put up in Loki’s old rooms (yeah, that was right, he knew that Angrboda called Loptr Loki, and he knew that Loki preferred the name, ungrateful runt that he was. Jarnsaxa’s father had kicked him out at a young age, and _he_ still kept the name. Loki was raised as a **_prince_** and he ditched his name!).

Large, cavernous even, given that he was a runt. The bed was a ginormous king-sized bed fit for a Jotunn, or eight Jarnsaxa’s. He flopped down on it. It was cozy for a Jotunn bed, comfortable even. The ceilings were gorgeous, ice crystals cascading down from them in patterns of ancient rooms. Undeniably Loki’s doing, Jarnsaxa clenched his fists. Loki the seidrmadr, the _talented_ runt. Well Jarnsaxa could do seidr too! It might not be as big or flashy, but it was just as important!

Jarnsaxa was gifted with an entirely new wardrobe as well. Most of it were Loki’s old things (apparently, the ungrateful rat had taken a bunch of items from the palace, but had left all of his princely clothes. The mongrel!) but there were some new clothes too, made to suit Jarnsaxa. They couldn’t keep him as he was, that would be an insult to Odin. And besides, this was him officially joining the royal family. They couldn’t get rid of him once he’d birthed Thor’s heir, for he would forever be the face that Asgard associated with the name ‘Loptr’.

He also had a giant bathtub now and a huge mirror in which to admire himself. Ha! No wonder Loki was so vain and spoilt. There were some nice bath oils there, he especially liked the lavender one.

Helblindi and Byleistr had gone to go and rescue Prince Thor’s party, Jarnsaxa was supposed to be dolled up by dinner. He slipped off his dressing gown and sat in the now full tub. Dolled up he would be, a good frostbitch was _always_ dolled up!

.

“Why are you so insistent about knowing about Prince Loptr?” Loki groaned after the fourth time that Thor had asked him in the same hour.

"He is my brother... and besides, it seems a little impersonal to not know _anything_ about someone before you impregnate them. That is why we are arriving a month before his heat. My father told me that you Jotnar are unable to conceive outside of your heat?”

“Aye, that we are. There are a few slip-ups from time to time, but yes, unless seidr is involved.”

“I've never trusted seidrmadr,” Tyr sniffed, all snooty-like.

“That’s okay, I don’t trust you either.” Loki rolled his eyes.

“Please, just one more tale?” Thor begged. Damn he was cute when he begged. Urgh, he can’t believe that he was lusting after his half-brother, he never thought that he’d be _that_ kind of Jotunn.

“Urgh, alright, fine. He’s a seridrmadr… he’s a _powerful_ seidrmadr,” Loki didn’t doubt that his eyes held a far-off look for any who might be able to see through the storm, but he was too lost in the moment. “Once, a cavern collapsed and he managed to hold everything together long enough for everybody to get out.”

Thor and Baldr both gasped. “Did he _die_?” Thor’s eyes were wide.

“No, you half-wit, or else he wouldn’t be alive for you to bed him!”

“Is he a hero, then?” Baldr asked.

Well, as long as he was being honest. “I suppose. It wasn’t his fault, for a change, that the cavern almost collapsed: though his father _did_ blame him for it… no. There was this other sorcerer- except that nobody believes he exists, they call him the ‘Witch of the Ironwood’, an urban legend- anyways, he was trying to divert Lok-Loptr’s attention for a moment, because he was making out with Loptr’s _cousin_ , Jarnsaxa,” Loki rolled his eyes as he continued to bitch. “Anyways, he and Loptr broke up over it,” and then got back together again a year later.

“Good, I’d hate to have to rip out the man who broke my little brother’s heart,” Thor said, stoically.

_Oh boy_ , Loki rolled his eyes. **_Urgh_** , he hated guys who did that, that thing where they tried to be all big and noble but really it was just a fight to see who had bigger muscles, an ego-fight, not a fight for their sibling’s honour. And honestly, was it even fair to call them that? _Siblings_? Half-siblings, sure, why not, they shared a common sperm donor, but they weren’t raised together, so they weren’t really ‘brothers’, his _real_ brothers were Helblindi and Byleistr.

“Don’t worry, he and Angrboda are on good terms now.”

“I don’t like this Angrboda, he seems confused.”

“He’s just been hurt a lot in life. He’s a good person, really. And he means well, I guess,” wow, this got oddly personal.

Thor shook his head. “Guys like that are a warning sign: steer clear.”

“That’s awfully sexist.”

“Guys is a gender-neutral term nowadays, chill.” Thor rolled his eyes this time. “I suppose that I’ll have to talk to my brother about this man?”

“Sure, why not.” It’s not like Loki cared about Thor’s opinion on anything to do with his life. What did Thor know about people, locked up in that gilded palace all day, only let out to fight Odin’s battles.

“And that’s also not very cousin-ly of that Saxa fellow,” Baldr pointed out.

“I know, he seems like he has problems,” Brunnhilde chimed in.

“Again. He’s been through a lot. His parents disowned him when he was born for being a runt, he was cast out by his entire kingdom. Laufey accepted him in his court because he was his late brother’s son, but nobody loved him all that much there either. The only thing he had going for him were his looks.”

“Do you fancy him?” Thor asked so suddenly that it caught Loki off guard.

Therefore, where he _should_ have said ‘ _Ewww! No! That’s disgusting!’_ Loki instead replied with a mumbled. “Ummm…” trying to work his head around what Thor was implying and how in the Nine he had gotten there from the sentences that Loki had uttered.

Baldr turned to him, a serious expression on his face. “Look, I only met you two and a bit days ago, but I _know_ that you can do better than that! Once a cheater always a cheater, it just wouldn’t end well for you.”

“I know that!” Loki snapped, finally. “I do not have a crush on Jarnsaxa, I was just astounded that you would think that! He is an egotist and an airhead! All he ever does is rave about being the ‘perfect frostbitch’!”

“Is he?” Tyr smirked.

“ ** _Yes_** , but it is a degrading role! Nobody with even a shred of dignity would wish it upon themselves!”

Thor’s eyes raked over Loki. Could Thor be think- he was, wasn’t he? The bastard. “Come on,” Loki said, through gritted teeth. “There are still 9900 steps left.”

.

It took an hour before they noticed something through the thick of the storm. It looked like huge, hulking shapes coming towards them. Jotnar. Loki’s stomach dropped as he did a quick mental re-map of the area that they were in. There were no Wild Jotunn clans out around here.

“Who are they?” Valkyrie drew her sword.

“It looks like… it looks as though they are my,” he almost said brothers, “princes… Helblindi and Byleistr.”

“ _Your_ princes? I thought that you were from Thrymheim?”

“I was born in Utgardr and raised there. I am arguable from both.”

“Prince Thor!” His brothers bowed. Loki eyed them warily. His appearance was quite close to his own, but with a few discrepancies. He really ought to take his leave now.

“Well, now that you have royal guides, I suppose that I can take off, farewell,” Loki made his voice slightly hoarser than usual, lest his brothers recognise it.

“Not so fast, the storm has begun to pick up again, you will die out there.” Thor grabbed his arm. Grr, why were Thor’s hands so _warm_ , even in all of this snow?

“I am a Jotunn of the North, a small bit of snow like this does not faze me,” he said, adopting a character. “Now, I really must go.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” oh no, it was Byleistr. “This storm would kill a full-grown Jotunn, let alone a runt.”

_I am a seidrmadr_ , Loki was about to say, but it died on his lips. Seidr was rare, **_very_** rare. If they hadn’t pieced it together yet by his appearance and his voice, then they would definitely recognise that he had seidr. After all, he was the only **_known_** seidrmadr in the realm. Jarnsaxa’s powers were too weak to boast of, and nobody believed that Angrboda existed anyways.

“Alright,” he said, through gritted teeth. “I suppose that I can come with you, but I really must leave as soon as it is possible.”

“Do not worry, we shall arrange a sleigh and dogs for you,” he hated how damned merry Helblindi sounded. That wasn’t the Helblindi that he knew and loved.

“See, Loki, it’s not so bad,” Thor grinned at him.

He was going to be found out. He was **_soooooo_** fucked!


	6. Chapter 6

Utgardr was decorated in ways which Loki had never seen before… how pointless in all of this snow, surely they realised that nobody cared when it constantly felt as though they were going to die of frostbite!

“Thor, I must borrow a cloak of yours,” Loki begged, his nerves having had caught up with him.

“What for?”

“I…I…” I _don’t_ want to be caught by my brothers, for a start. “Ummm… this is embarrassing, but I once slept with Prince Helblindi,” Helblindi wouldn’t mind that he used him as an excuse, his brother **_loved_** him. “I am worried that he should recognise me as one of the whores from the whorehouse he visited. I doubt he would be favourable to a slut.”

“Ah, is that why you changed your voice earlier?”

“Aye.” Loki nodded.

“Very well then,” Thor placed the cloak from around his shoulders (not the red, ceremonial one, rather the bear-skin one that kept him warm. It was so nice and warm, and it smelled like Thor. Gah! He was supposed to like rough, rugged men, not loving and warm and gentle men! Angrboda had kind moments, sure, but usually he was rough as ice to anybody who wasn’t Loki, and slick as an eel to Loki.

Baldr leaned in. “Brother, I see you getting cozy to the Jotunn… remember, you’re here to breed **_one_** Jotunn, and that is prince Loptr.”

“Oh, Baldr, it is merely a bit of harmless fun.”

“Harmless for you, mayhaps, but it will cause unnecessary strife on this planet. Please, brother, I implore you: if you have **_any_** love for this brother of ours whom we have yet to meet, do not destroy his planet with your folly.”

“Relax Baldr, I shall maintain good sense in this. I always do.” Baldr cursed internally.

.

Jarnsaxa was decorated in blue ice diamonds, wearing a red slip dress (red was a good colour that showed fertility) and had his hair dyed black from its standard blonde. Even the Aesir knew that ‘Loptr’s’ hair was black.

Now, some might wonder why _he_ called Loki Loki and not Loptr despite condemning the boy for ditching his true name that his gracious parents had gifted him. The reason was simple: Loptr was a name to be respected, and he didn’t respect Loki, nor did he think him entitled to the name that his ever-loving parents had given him.

Uncle Laufey had announced that Prince Thor had been located and that Jarnsaxa should be in the dining hall in ten minutes. He was early, a show of support for his kind and loving uncle.

The doors opened and in walked his cousins with _the Prince Thor_! Jarnsaxa gushed, he’d heard so much about him, like how strong and powerful he was, and how handsome and smart and funny and charming, and how he’d crushed a Bilgesnipe’s skull with his bear hands. Behind him walked the rest of Thor’s party… and… and was that another Jotunn? It was small, like him, possibly a child… but the dimensions were all wrong, it had to have been an adult. For one brief, scary moment, Jarnsaxa thought that it might be Loki, but the horns were wrong and the inheritance lines were different, this was just some measly commoner. He’d never heard of another runt: must be a cast-out like him.

They ate dinner. The runt didn’t speak at all, just kept pulling its bearskin closer. Hmm, nice colour, Jarnsaxa wanted one.

And everything was going great too! All the way up until someone uttered the other runt’s name:

_Loki_ …

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short af, but realistically, this was the climax of it, and it would have just felt wrong to add more.


	7. Chapter 7

Jarnsaxa was unable to grab Loki after the dinner and interrogate him on just _what the fuck_ he was doing here, because Thor wanted to spend time with him. Grr, Jarnsaxa would have to creep into his rooms in the middle of the night and kill him or something.

“So, you are my brother then?” Thor smiled at Jarnsaxa.

_Not really, but I guess I’m your surrogate brother?_ “Yes,” Jarnsaxa smiled politely, doing his best Loki-impersonation. “Yes I am, and you are my brother.” Just because he was impersonating Loki didn’t mean he had to be as mean-spirited and rude as the aforementioned man. Instead, he’d treat Thor the way that Loki treated Angrboda (when he wasn’t being rude to Angrboda, that was). Wow, Loki was rude a lot. No wonder he was single.

“What kind of sports do you play? Or, uh, seidr… yeah, Loki mentioned that you liked seidr.” Jarnsaxa bristled.

“Do not mention his name in my sight,” Jarnsaxa said, his nose stuck up in the air.

“Wha- oh, right, he mentioned that he slept with your brother, Helblindi, in a whorehouse. I understand if you feel repulsed by it, but it was just an honest day’s work for him.” What… had his cousin told Thor? Was this even his cousin? Maybe it was some mistake.

“What? Oh, I thought that you were talking about the Loki that once dated my boyfriend, Angrboda.” Jarnsaxa lied. There was no way that Loki could have talked about either him or Loptr without mentioning Angrboda, it would be physically impossible. His lacklustre cousin was _nothing_ without the Forest Witch.

“Angrboda, eh? I thought you two had broken up,” Oh, Loki had said that? Odd, Jarnsaxa could have sworn that Loki had been on his way to Angrboda’s. Why would he live with his ex if they weren’t dating again.

“We are _currently_ broken up, but while we were dating Loki cheated- I mean _Angrboda_ cheated on me with Loki. It was quite the affair.”

“I thought that Angrboda cheated on you with Jarnsaxa. It all makes sense now, why he defended that slut, it was because **_he_** was Jarnsaxa: **_he_** was the home wrecker!” Jarnsaxa clutched his fists. **_Asshole_**! He was going to rip all of that pretty hair from right off of Loki’s scalp. Actually, now that he was official-fake-prince-Loptr, he could just order him executed or banished or something!

“I am shocked that he would bring Jarnsaxa into this! Jarnsaxa is one of the most honourable frostbitches in the Nine. No wonder Loki wanted to besmirch his good name. You know, Loki isn’t even his real name, he changed it. That’s how troubled he is.”

“Wow,” Thor shook his head in disbelief. “Well, let us not let him spoil our evening. Tell me, what are your hobbies?”

“I like cooking, knitting, and practicing my seidr,” Jarnsaxa smiled. “And you? I am sure that a big, strong Asgardian like you enjoys spending time out training?”

“Guilty as charged,” Thor chuckled. “Am I really that readable?”

“You are like a book. One with a **_very_** nice cover,” Jarnsaxa purred.

.

“Should we tell father we found Loki?” Helblindi asked.

“Why should we? No good would come of it. Just let him be, he shouldn’t be forced into bearing a child he doesn’t want. Look at what happened the last time.”

“Aye, you are right about that.” Helblindi sighed. “I don’t want him to leave after this. I know that he is eager to go…”

“But?”

“Take a guess, brother, as to what I might be worried about. Think: there are not many places for a runt to go and live safely, let alone Loki.”

“You think that he will go back to that last boyfriend of his?” Byleistr chuckled. “That man tried to kill him. He would not do something so stupid.”

“And yet that was the third time he got back together with ‘the Forest Witch’.” Byleistr said nothing. He knew that nobody else had believed Loki when he claimed to have seen the Forest Witch, but he did. Stupid as it sounded, he believed that his brother had both seen and dated the Monstrosity of the Ironwood. The fabled legend parents told their children to keep them out of that dodgy place. Nobody doubted that monsters and other hazards existed there, but a seidrmadr so powerful he could make the Nine shake? Bitch please. And yet he knew not a soul more powerful than his brother at the woman’s sport.

“Then what do you propose we do? Give him a hut? Won’t his boyfriend just find him again?”

“Not if we keep watch over it.”

Byleistr sighed. “I love him too, but we cannot protect him from _everything_.”

Growing up, both of their parents had hated Loki. It had, to an extent, rubbed off on Helblindi and Byleistr as well. It was only after the first time that he’d run off, the first time that he’d been with **_him_** that they had realised the flaw in their parents’ ways (it probably helped that they were old enough by then to think for themselves as well). Sure, Jotunheimr believed in survival of the fittest, but fuck it: Loki was their family, dammit!

Helblindi just sighed and left the room. It was useless talking to Byleistr, he was too like their father: stagnant. If he wanted to get something done, he’d have to do it himself.

.

Loki was kept in the same quarters that the rest of the Asgardians were being housed in. Understandable, the castle only had one guest wing. It was huge, but that didn’t change the fact that all rooms were in the same general area.

And that was how he ran into Thor at around midnight, when he was going to go to visit the library for what could be the last time. Thor was **_not_** happy to see him.

“You could have told me, you know? That it was **_you_** that Angrboda cheated with, instead of blaming it on poor Jarnsaxa!”

“Poor- what?” Had Thor told Jarnsaxa that story? Why would he do that? Oh, right, he thought Jarnsaxa was him and was trying to get to know him. “Ummm.”

“It’s wrong, what you did. You really ought to apologise to him for it.” **_He_** ** _was the one who was the fucking homewrecker, dammit!_** Did Thor **_not_** realise that he had just spoken to the most conceited man in all of the Nine? He understood that his father had needed a replacement-Loptr to prevent an all-out war from breaking out, but dammit, couldn’t he have picked a runt with **_some_** personality!? He’d rather it have been a common whore disguised as him. Oh well, he supposed Jarnsaxa’s heritage lines weren’t that far off from his own.

“Um.. I see, yes. I shall. What else did he tell you?”

“Enough. You’re really disgusting, you know that? And the way you made Angrboda out to be the villain in all of your stories, when **_you’re_** the one who was always so rude to him and **_you’re_** the one who wouldn’t go to see him when he was in hospital!”

_Because he put me in hospital too. I struggled to retain consciousness for more than a day at a time for a whole month because of him. He was only in hospital because while he was trying to strangle me my seidr lashed out at him._

“Yeah, I know. I could have been a more loving boyfriend.” Loki sidestepped Thor.

“Wait! Where are you going!? I am not finished with you!”

“I am going to the library. So long as I am a guest in this palace, I shall make use of it. It was… an experience talking to you, Thor!” Loki called, disappearing around the corner before Thor could say anymore to him. Phew, that was a close one. Now, time to go and interrogate his cousin on what more lies he had spewed to Thor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly reminder that Loki's made no move to contact Angrboda yet, and he was supposed to be there like, what? 2 days ago. Plus an all-out war hasn't broken out yet. GASP! That must mean that Loki STAYED! Don't worry, Loki, Angrboda will 'save' you!


	8. Chapter 8

The next day wrought no luck for Loki. The snow was still sky-high. Actually, it was getting worst.

“Sorry, the youngest prince usually has his heats in the coldest part of the year, when the snow is the harshest… I think it’s a good indication of his personality,” Helblindi chuckled while Loki glared at the food in front of him. He was starting to think that his brothers were on to him, which begged the question: why didn’t Laufey know yet? Or did he and had he just decided thathe was through with Loki.

(A small part of him, though he didn’t want to admit it, hoped that Laufey had been merciful in this. That Laufey had uncharacteristically gone ‘I hated the rape, I don’t wish for my child to be raped’ and turned a blind eye to Loki’s newfound presence in the castle. But Loki knew that Laufey didn’t think like that. He’d probably see it as his revenge both on Loki _and_ on Odin if Loki were forced to bear Thor’s heir.)

Jarnsaxa was beguiling Thor with tales of ‘his’ much beloved ‘cousin Jarnsaxa’. Loki wanted to vomit. How could someone be so self-centred?

“Loki, is it? We should spend some time together. I always like getting to know my future subjects!” Helblindi beamed.

“Um, certainly, where?”

“How about my room, after dinner?” Helblindi winked at him. Loki realised, belatedly, that Thor had stopped chatting with Jarnsaxa and was now glaring in he and Helblindi’s direction. What? Was he in trouble for speaking with the crown prince too?

.

Angrboda stared at the clock in his cave anxiously. Loki was supposed to be here two days ago… Well, the snow was thick… he couldn’t shake the feeling in his gut that something was wrong. After all, what soon-to-be boyfriend didn’t even go out _looking_ for his soon-to-be-partner during a storm this bad? What if Loki was hurt and needed to be rescued.

He grabbed his rucksack and headed for the door. He could teleport, so if worst came to worst, he’d be fine. Too bad the snow was too thick to rely on the trees for input on where Loki was, oh well, he’d just have to make do with lesser, more run-of-the-mill seidr.

.

Helblindi let out a sigh of relief when Loki walked into his bedroom. “I was worried for a while that you wouldn’t show up.”

“I just wanted to be careful,” Loki said.

“And why is that?”

“Er… Prince Loptr and I don’t have the best relationship,” Loki lied easily.

“Really, little brother? He’s our _cousin_ , surely you can’t hate each other **_that_** much!” At the panicked look in Loki’s eyes, he shook his head. “I’m not going to tell- neither is ‘leister.”

“He knows too?” Loki’s voice was little more than a whisper.

“Well, we were aware that you used the nickname ‘Loki’ outside of the palace. We **_are_** also familiar with your voice, you know.”

“I changed it though!”

“Not the first time. Plus, you’re the same height you’ve been since you were 12. We are well-acquainted with that height.”

“Hey! I didn’t stop growing until I was 850!”

Helblindi chuckled. “I didn’t ask you here to quarrel, brother. Well, at least not about this.”

“Then what about?”

“I know that once the snow storm becomes bearable, you will be going back to live with… _him_.”

“Him? I thought that you didn’t believe that Angrboda was real?”

“Uh, yeah,” no point debating the existence of the ‘Forest Witch’, it wasn’t the point of this meeting. “He beat you up pretty bad in the past. We don’t want you going back there.”

Loki sighed. “You don’t know him like I do. He changed, he really has.” _After my relationship with him, I had a relationship with a Wilderman named Svadilfari. He got too comfortable too fast and did things I didn’t really like. Angrboda_ ** _saved me_** _._

“Right… well, we just thought, you know, if you wanted it, we could send you to the Country Estate in Vanaheim. I know how you love seidr, and almost everyone there wields it.” Loki’s eyes widened. Living his days out at the Country Estate in Vanaheim would be a dream come true for him.

“Th-thank you, brother. That is incredibly generous of you. But won’t people question why I am there?”

“We can say that you are house-sitting? That you yourself are Vanir. You are a shapeshifter, are you not?”

Yes, yes he was! This was so exciting!

Heartily accepting, Loki turned to leave. Sure, Angrboda had changed, but it wasn’t like he had any intention of getting back together with the man (well, maybe not in the next half-decade or so) so it wasn’t like he owed him anything.

He bumped into Thor on his way back from Jarns- oh, that was right, _Prince Loptr’s_ rooms. He wondered if the two had done it yet. Honestly, at the moment he was still kind of pissed from Thor’s lash out yesterday, but in ways it _did_ remind him of fights he’d had with Angrboda over lesser things (especially when the man was drinking). Thor was such a dickhead with his ‘higherthan thou’ attitude. Loki wasn’t even the one who had cheated, but he wouldn’t have tolerated Thor treating Jarnsaxa like that, had _he_ been the one that Thor had yelled at. Wasn’t Thor aware of the whole ‘ignore those you disdain?’ rule of life?

“How was your reunion with the prince?” Thor sneered.

Wha-? Oh, oh right, Lokihad tried to sell him that lie. Well, as long as he was having fun with it: “Even better than the last time,” Loki winked. “And you and your brother?”

“He’s doing fine, thanks for asking,” Thor’s voice was crisp and clipped, like a frozen leaf being broken in two.

“Alright, well. Then I shall leave you be.” Loki went back into his room. Well, not _his_ room, but the guest room.

It only occurred to him that night, as he was about to fall asleep, that Thor had never asked for his bearskin back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably a good time to mention that I DON'T think that this story will be that long. I really don't see it going past 30 chapters, but we'll see I guess. I don't want to pile on too much plot because, well, I'm kinda sick of doing that *side-eyes TEOD* plus exams are next month and it would be nice to be done before/shortly after them.
> 
> To those who got this far: thanks for sticking around!


	9. Chapter 9

He rather unfortunately ran into Jarnsaxa while he was in the library.

“You!” Jarnsaxa accused. “What are you doing here?! Have you come to sabotage another one of my relationships!?”

“Wha- _no_! I got caught in the storm and ran into them by accident! I don’t want to be here any more that you want me here!” Loki protested.

“Then why haven’t you left already?”

“Have you **_seen_** the snow!?” Loki asked, scandalised.

“So? You’re a seidrmadr!”

“My seidr does not include _weather manipulation_ , genius.”

Jarnsaxa growled. “I’ll tell Laufey.”

“Good, you do that, he’ll discard of you immediately.” Loki hissed.

Jarnsaxa was between a rock and a hard place here, he couldn’t act without screwing himself over. He gave a resigned huff. “Stay away from the Asgardians.” He ordered. “And be out of here as soon as this storm clears.”

“Gladly.” He’d come to realise something about Thor. The man had a fine, **_fine_** body, but had no intellect and was quite brutish (actually: turn on). Loki would be better off without him, he was **_so_** over his half-baked half-brother. “Now, please leave me be.”

“ ** _Gladly_**.” Jarnsaxa retorted, his eyes ablaze. Wow. Someone was petty.

.

Loki ran into Thor **_again_** on his way back to ‘his’ chambers. Odd that Thor was up this late. Actually, given how Jarnsaxa was, it wasn’t odd at all.

“Your cousin tells me you two have spoken.”

“We have.”

“Good. Did you apologise?”

“Is that _any_ of your business?”

“What can I say? _I_ care about other people?” Self-righteous smug asshole.

“Really? Because this is the first time you two have ever met, and you got drunk on your way here. Do you **_really_** care about **_other_** people?” Loki all but growled.

Thor jerked back, affronted. How dare this insolent runt take that kind of tone with him!?

“My willingness to come here at all shows how much _I_ care. I did this to prevent a war, not because I wanted to. What kind of sick pervert **_wants_** to bed their sibling?!” Loki did _not_ fluster a little at that.

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I highly doubt that he considers you a sibling!”

“Don’t you dare assume to speak for him! He is royalty and he is above you!”

“Oh, so money and status make a man?”

“No, but fidelity and a respect for others do!” Oh Thor, if only you knew. Loki gave Thor a crooked smile, pulled a face, and walked to the room he was being housed in. He heard lightning crashing that night. Oh, surprise surprise, the big baby was throwing a tantrum, not like it made him wet or anything.

.

“It would be nice to go out riding, but the snow is too thick,” Jarnsaxa lamented.

“Aye, that it is. We can stay here,” Thor shrugged. “It is alright. It is nice getting to know you. What kind of books do you read?”

“What?”

“In one of my father’s correspondences with Laufey your mother mentioned that you enjoyed literature. I think he mentioned ‘Apple Garden’ or something like that that you were reading.”

“Oh, uh, I haven’t read in a while,” of _course_ Thor was going to find out! Dammit!

“Oh, I see, I pretend to enjoy things to impress my parents all the time.” Thor chuckled. Damn thatgolden smile and that handsome voice and that hot body. On Jotunheimr, it wasn’t like there were many runts. Jarnsaxa himself only knew of three: himself, Loki and Angrboda. There was probably ten, but in that ten there would be at least five kept at brothels, forced to breed with one another to produce more runts. There were things about Jotunheimr that were _despicable_ (though he was optimistic about Helblindi’s reign. Helblindi loved Loki too much to allow anything harmful to runts to go on… it made Jarnsaxa bitter). But the point remained: it wasn’t like there was much in the way of romantic prospects for him. Not unless he wanted to date his cousin (ew) or a Wilderman ( ** _ew!_** ).

“Haha, yeah.”

“But I’ve been told many a time that you’re an awe-inspiring seidrmadr. Can you perform a trick for me?”

“Uhhh… my seidr is too strong, it would break the castle. That’s a bad idea with this storm going on,” Jarnsaxa chuckled nervously.

“I see, I see. It’s okay, I understand. Maybe some other time then?”

“Certainly, brother,” Jarnsaxa purred. Wow, it was almost embarrassing what that word did to him. He knew it wasn’t like he wanted to bed his _own_ brother, Kari was a **_jerk_**! A jerk who had stood by as his father had cast him out! And Thor wasn’t even his own brother! Well, then, he supposed that he had had a bit of a daddy kink with Angrboda. Angrboda was _old_ (and perfect) like, 10000 years older than he was (2 mortal years [yes, I know my ages don’t add up, I believe they experience childhood fast and then it just **_stretches_** as they get older]). “Well, what would you like to do today, seeing as I chose everything yesterday?”

“I _actually_ have a meeting with your brother later on today,” Thor chuckled, “a future-king-to-future-king thing. But until then, I have some cards on me. Let me call Brunnhilde, Tyr and Baldr, it’ll be fun! We can play crazy eights!”

“What’s that?”

“You’ll find out.”

.

Loki had uncovered a rather interesting spell in the library. It would be enough to end this seeming ice-age. But he needed soil in order to plant a seed of his blood. With the snow outside too heavy for him (much to his chagrin) to withstand without potentially getting buried underneath it, Loki made his way to Helblindi’s room. He could always ask Byleistr, but Byleistr had always been less accepting of his seidr. He thought that it was the reason that Loki always got into so much trouble.

Loki knocked thrice on his brother’s door. It wasn’t like he had anywhere to be, nobody could leave in this abhorrent snow storm sent to them by Ymir’s wonky testicles!

“Enter!” Came Helblindi’s voice after a moment.

“Br-lindi,” Loki’s eyes widened at the sight of Thor with his brother. Thor’s eyes widened at the sight of Loki in Helblindi’s room. What in the Nine was going on in here? Helblindi was oblivious to the tension.

“Yes, Loki, what do you want?”

“I, er, I-” Loki stammered, unfortunately unable to look away from Thor. “I need, um, _soil_.”

“Soil? What for?”

“Er. I want to plant a flower.”

“Um, I will take my leave,” Thor blushed, “If you do not mind?”

“Certainly, certainly.” As soon as Thor left, Helblindi chuckled. “He’s an odd one, isn’t he? It’s a wonder the ladies seem to find him so attractive.”

“Haha, yeah, totally.”

“What kind of flower do you want to plant?”

“What?”

“The flower you said you wanted.”

“Oh, um, a seidr flower. So that I can use it as part of a spell to end this damned ice age.”

“Uh-huh, I see.” Helblindi nodded sadly. “You wish to see.”

“Brother, it is nothing personal, but Laufey would have my head if he found out I was alive and well.”

Helblindi nodded remorsefully. “That he would, little brother, that he would. Alright, I shall go. Do me a favour and run a bath for me?”

“Of course. What temperature?”

“Iced lake.”

“Isn’t that a bit warm? You got burns the last time.”

“I can handle it. I need something warm for my joints, especially as that snowstorm you are sending me into will likely freeze half of them,” Helblindi chuckled, ruffling his little brother’s hair and walking out.

Helblindi was right. Thor _was_ a strange one. Loki supposed most of his attraction to Thor lay in his height: Thor was the fourth person that he’d ever met of a similar height to himself (and Thor’s party made up the fourth, fifth and sixth people, but none of them were especially appealing). The first other person had been Jarnsaxa, a fellow runt, and then Angrboda, a halfblood (Loki wished he himself were able to qualify as a halfblood). The third person… the third person he didn’t even want to think about. He didn’t want to remember Svad, those warm smiles that would turn cold whenever he drank too much. Svad was a victim of his upbringing, he was as rowdy and as much a party animal as a centaur. The Wildermen were nomads, he supposed, and their only community was each other thanks to all the bans that Laufey reinforced from his father’s time. Really, out there in the cold tundra, what more was there to do than drink and party all the time?

Helblindi came back a half an hour later with the soil that he had asked for. Loki said thank you and left, oblivious to Helblindi’s smile.

After all, what better way to keep Loki from leaving than giving him dead soil? It was desperate, he knew, but he was going to relish every last opportunity he had to spend time with his little brother. The next time that he would be able to see Loki, after all, would be after Laufey’s death, when he himself was king of Jotunheimr.

.

“Did you notice that he spends more time than he needs to with the runt?” Tyr vented at Brunnhilde. “I can hear their conversations from outside of my room, you know.”

“So? What do you want _me_ to do about it?”

“I believe he has developed an attraction towards him.”

“What!? That would be ridiculous! He’s in love with **_Sif_**!”

“Of that I have no doubt, but even a quick loveless fling could devastate our empire!” Brunnhilde rolled her eyes. Odin’s empire was overrated. It kept peace, true, but at Asgard’s advantage. She looked forward to Thor’s reign, he’d be sure to change that. He was, deep down, a fair person. “He cannot have more than one child per kingdom and it **_has_** to be with nobility.”

“He knows that! Do you really think that Thor would do something stupid on purpose and risk people’s safety.”

“I never said that it was on purpose. We must get rid of the runt.”

“If you’re so desperate, I’m sure that you could ask Laufey or someone to move him to a different guest wing.” Brunnhilde rolled her eyes. She immediately wished she hadn’t said anything, because Tyr’s eyes lit up like every movie-villain’s anywhere.

“That is **_exactly_** what I will do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, it sure is good that Thor has no reason to believe that Loki and Helblindi are doing anything scandalous in there. So good that he KNOWS that they are brothers.
> 
> Ooh! Also! Laufeyson family heat coming up soon. How's Thor gonna react when 'Loptr' doesn't go into heat as expected? Also, did Thor just call 'Loptr' Loki's cousin instead of by name? Hmmm, interesting 🧐


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note. Byleistr is NOT Laufey's youngest son, he just doesn't regard Loki as a child of his, he's been distancing himself from Loki ever since he was born.

Loki wasn’t feeling very well. With his heat around the corner, he wasn’t all that surprised, really. He was, what? A day off of his heat? He pondered locking himself away in his room for the duration of it, but knowing himself he’d just undo the locks, crawl out, and beg someone for their cock. No, unmated he needed something better than that.

“You’re spending your heat with me,” Blindi told him, voice low as they ate breakfast. Thor dropped his fork and bent down to get it. What a weird, weird man.

“Thank you,” Loki mouthed back at his brother. Relatives didn’t feel the same urge to mate with someone in heat, they’d be able to maintain a level-head around one another so long as _nobody else_ came into their room. Byleistr would probably be spending his heat with their parents. By had always been a bit of a mommy’s boy… either that, or he had found a frostbitch somewhere. Maybe that Farleyson boy, the son of the Head of the Army. If Loki were a full-size Jotunn, he’d tap that, and By had always been into more manly Jotnar.

The term frostbitch was, in itself, a derogatory one. Jotunheimr was… misogynistic, to put it lightly. Asgard wasn’t perfect either, he knew from reading the texts, they still did things that bordered on gender-role-condemnation. On Asgard, a mother wasn’t allowed to fight in wars, but fathers were fine to go. Vanaheim was different though, which was why he was so grateful for his brother to allow him to go there. He knew that as someone who was mostly-physically male, it didn’t really affect him much… it was just the idea that he was in a place that supported it that made his skin crawl.

The idea on Jotunheimr was that since everyone had the same pair down there, whoever won a fight known as a ‘mating fight’ would be the dominant one. Both parties knew what they were getting into, but nobody ever wanted to lose it. Nobody **_wanted_** to be a frostbitch… well, actually, there was Jarnsaxa, but Jarnsaxa was Jarnsaxa and Jarnsaxa had his own problems.

Farbauti was Laufey’s frostbitch. The King of Jotunheimr was **_always_** a froststud (the winner of the fight). Mayhaps that was why Farbauti had that arrogant-glee about him whenever Loki was brought up… or the other reason, not like he’d know.

Despite that nobody **_wanted_** to be a frostbitch, once you lost your virginity down there, you were one, and anybody who wanted confirmation of the fact could just touch there and feel it for themselves. Sweat trickled down Loki’s neck as he remembered it… Farbuati checking for it, laughing in Laufey’s face ‘ _your son is a bitch_.’

Funny how poorly frostbitches were treated… until they had their own children. Then the tables turned and everybody was nice to them. Again, Jotunheimr wasn’t a very equality-friendly place. Maybe that had been why he’d fallen head-over-heels for Angrboda in the first place (aside from the man’s height)? He’d been the first other Jotunn that Loki had met that held his views on Jotunheimr’s hierarchy and how stupid it was. Angrboda was no hypocrite, he had even allowed Loki to take him on a few occasions. Angrboda didn’t have heat, he wasn’t frost-giant enough to have it, but he felt an urge once every few years akin to it. Angrboda had the best of both worlds…

Loki needed to stop thinking about him. Once he left Jotunheimr, he’d be ending things with Angrboda, potentially for good. It didn’t do well to dwell on his first love.

.

Angrboda curled up in a cave for the night. No sign of Loki in the Ironwood. He must have gotten caught up in the storm on his way from the city. Angrboda would probably find him in a nice little inn somewhere! Then they could make sweet, sweet love by the fire. It was almost Loki’s heat, after all, and his poor boyfriend would be feeling a lot of discomfort without his mate.

.

Baldr munched an apple, pretending to read a book as Thor paced inside his room. He would ask his brother what was wrong, but he was pretty sure that Thor didn’t know what was wrong himself.

Baldr sighed. It was sad, it truly was. Thor _clearly_ felt attraction to Loki, but was duty-bound to bed only Loptr. Thor might not see it, but Baldr was fully aware what an infatuated-Thor looked like. Unfortunately however, he could not help his brother in this one.

He knew that it was selfish, and that in a way he was betraying Thor’s trust, but his father had promised him something the likes of which he had never hoped of receiving. His blessing for Baldr to marry Karnilla, on the condition that he ensured that Thor fulfil his duty. Baldr had a lot riding on this. He knew that it was selfish, but to be fair, it never would have worked out between Thor and Loki. Thor’s place was with Sif, and this was his duty to his kingdom. Personal pleasures had to be put aside for the good of the kingdom.

.

“How are you holding up, brother?” Helblindi asked, sweat pouring off of his forehead.

“Urgh, at least if I had made it to the Ironwood I would have had Angrboda to rut with,” Loki groaned.

There was something about heat that made your own blood a turn-off. Though that must have only applied amongst Jotnar, because Loki could _not stop_ fantasising about Thor ramming into him. Those hands were so big, imagine what his dick looked like! Loki liked to think it curved a little at the base, that it would rub against his clit with every thrust. Why did he fucking decide to run away in the first place? His body belonged to Thor. Mmm, yes, he _definitely_ wanted to be Thor’s baby mamma.

Helblindi groaned. He wanted sex so bad, but he couldn’t get it up while Loki was in the room. Loki was both a blessing and a curse in this situation, since if he were in his right state of mind, he **_definitely_** wouldn’t want to be having sex right now.

.

Apparently Loptr’s heat was coming late, that was what the man had told Thor as they strolled through the halls. “Yes, it does do this sometimes I’m afraid. My brothers and fathers are much more regular, I think it is a runt thing.”

“Well, we have the entire palace to ourselves,” Thor chuckled. He had to admit, his half-brother was **_gorgeous!_** Who would have thought someone with Odin’s genes could possess such beauty!? Handsomeness he would have understood, but Loptr’s **_beauty_**! It was breathtaking. He couldn’t believe that he was saying this, but he thought that his brother might even be more beautiful than his mother Frigga. He felt a swell of pride ride up in his chest.

“Aye, that we do. Do you have anything that you want to do?”

“Well, not really. I was supposed to speak to Helblindi, but he is in heat,” with Loki, Thor’s knuckles whitened as he clenched his fists. They were probably lying down on Helblindi’s bed, Loki’s legs splayed open, that fool rutting into him. Thor blinked his eyes and shook his head. Wait, where had that come from? It must be all the hormones in the air. Four Jotnar in heat, it must be spreading.

Jarnsaxa was grateful that he was related to both Laufey _and_ Farbauti, so unlike other Jotnar in the castle, he wasn’t susceptible to their pheromones. “We could go to the library? Or the gardens?”

“The snow is too heavy.”

“We have a greenhouse. It is quite lovely.”

“Hmmm, interesting. Sure, I would love for you to take me there.”

.

Loki had had enough. He was tired of being unendingly aroused and yet simultaneously cock-blocked. He stormed into Helblindi’s bathroom.

“Where are you going?” His brother called.

“I am taking a bath! I am going to spray the entire area with mistblossom spray. Have fun, I know I’ll be!” Helblindi grimaced at the coarse tone his younger sibling took. Nevertheless, he understood. They were on day three of seven. He couldn’t go on for the full week like this either. They needed a bit of reprieve from one another, and it was too risky for either of them to leave the room. He let Loki disappear without a word, and as soon as that door slammed shut he immediately jumped atop his bed and started jerking off.

.

The Greenhouse was cavernous. Thor watched Loptr point at random flowers and explain where they were from. “That’s a Charmed Lily, it’s from Vanaheim. That’s a Catniss, it’s from Musspelheim. That’s a Magnolia, it’s from Midgard,” Loki pointed. These were all such beautiful flowers. Thor liked it in here a lot.

“What is that one?” Thor pointed to a red and white one. It looked like a hybrid between a lily and a bird-of-paradise. Loptr shook his head, mystified. “I have no clue.” He admitted. “I’ve never seen it in here before, it must be new.”

“That’s too bad… it’s really beautiful.” There was something about that flower… something that was just beautiful and incredible and magical.

“Aye, that it is. I will ask the gardener tomorrow,” Loptr nodded, linking his arm in Thor’s. “Come on now, it is nearly dinner time, we wouldn’t want to keep your party waiting, now would we?”

Thor chuckled. “Trust me, if the King and King’s Consort aren’t there, none of them are waiting.”

.

“Where is your brother? Shouldn’t you be with him? He might be rubbing himself dry,” Laufey suggested, annoyed. He wanted to fuck his spouse, but his bratty youngest son was present.

“No, he’s fine, he’s with Loki.”

“Loki, huh? He’s sure been spending a lot of time with that runt. I hope he doesn’t intend to marry him or something.”

Byleistr resisted the urge to wince as he spoke. “Um, no, I’m sure Helblindi’s just using him as a fucktoy,” gag, “while he’s here. You know how tight runts are.”

Farbauti chuckled. “Mmm, that I do.”

“Since when?” Laufey raised a brow.

“I had a life before you,” Farbauti shrugged. “I am going to sleep. Goodnight you two.”

“Goodnight, mother,” Byleistr curled up beside his beloved mother, leaving Laufey to roll his eyes and walk into another room in the Royal Suite.


	11. Chapter 11

Tyr and Baldr were playing snap. It was a game that Thor had brought with him from Midgard.

“Do you think that Thor is growing too close to that Jotunn Loki?” Tyr asked, flinging down a card.

“All they ever do is fight and argue… so definitely,” Baldr threw down his own and immediately clamped a hand over it. _“Snap_!”

“Argh! This is not fair! You have inherited your mother’s gift for divination!”

“Queen Frigga has no divination powers, she is merely _wise_ , and besides, I am not very good at seidr.” Baldr rolled his eyes, reminding his half-brother that seidr was a _woman’s_ craft, and that he himself was very much a man.

“Aye, that you are not. How can we keep them apart? If Thor fucks this up there will be war, and Ingrid is due to give birth in a half year. I do not wish to be away from our daughter in her first year of life.”

“It’s a girl? What are you naming her?”

“Oh, I don’t know… Tyria?”

Baldr wrinkled his nose. “Ew, no. If you’re naming your daughter after one of you, it should be Ingrid. What about Gwen?”

“How is that after Ingrid?”

“I don’t know, there’s a heavy ’n’ and ‘g’ sound, the names would compliment each other quite well.”

“Well, in any case, such speculation is useless. It is women who decide what to name the child.”

“Yes, but I’m sure she’d listen if you just asked.” Baldr pointed out. “Not everyone is as stuck in gender roles as you are.”

“We shall see,” though Tyr had no intention of doing any such things. “Back to the matter at hand, what are we to do with Loki?”

“He doesn’t even spend that much time around Thor, and he has been shifted to the prince’s chambers, has he not?”

“That he has. Do you think that I worry about nothing?”

“Yes. Thor wouldn’t endanger other peoples’ lives over the whims of his cock. Now, shall we play another game?”

“Sure.”

.

Angrboda crawled his way through the snow in the direction of Utgard. So far no sign of Loki. Grr, Loki would be halfway into his heat right now. Angrboda’s blood boiled at the thought of Loki spending it with another man.

When Angrboda had first met Loki he had gone by the name ‘Loptr’. He had recognised a desire in Loki to escape his background, he himself had been raised on Vanaheim and wanted _nothing_ to do with his mother’s family. He had given Loki the name ‘Loki’ as a play on ‘Loptr’ because it made it harder for people to recognise him. Loki had gone so far as to make the new name his identity, going by it among close friends and even his brothers.

Loki wasn’t some ultra-glam, made-over frostbitch just waiting for a good rut… he was beautiful in a down-to-earth way, he was funny, he was smart, he was charming… runts like him were hard to come by… come to think of it, he’d never met a runt like Loki. It was why he kept gravitating back to the most amazing and yet infuriating man he had ever met…

Angrboda crawled faster.

.

After masturbating, Loki let out a deep sigh of relief, and then went to join his brother on the bed after a while.

“Feel better?” He asked, having whisked away any evidence of Helblindi’s self-abuse before re-entering the room. Seidr was a blessing, it really really was.

“Yes,” Helblindi puffed. “It’s still a bit hot in here.”

“Peace, brother. Our heats will end in three days.”

“ _Should_ end in three days. I think it is worth remembering that time that our entire clan went an extra six days in, and I don’t think having a fertility god here will help much with that.”

“Thor? But he is away from us. Surely his powers are not so pervasive.”

“You underestimate him, brother, he is a god… the rest of us are mere mortals.”

“True, true,” Loki mused. Gods were rare, and when they were born they usually rose in status. Both Asgard and Vanaheim’s monarchies were run by gods, and look at how they were doing. Asgard had a high concentration of gods, _and look at how they had done! They’d taken over the Bloody Nine!_

Ymir, his great-grandfather, had been a god. It wasn’t a hereditary thing though, and their grandfather, Nal, had not been one, neither had Laufey nor had they.

“Still, I doubt his powers extend to our biology,” Loki shrugged.

“I hope not.”

.

Thor was pretty sure that the rest of Loptr’s family’s heat was supposed to have ended three days ago. Not that he minded, of course, he was glad to spend more time with his brother, but still… odd.

Loptr was due to go into heat the next day. Thor was pumped up, excited. He was going to get his brother well and pregnant.

Loptr was possibly the most beautiful creature he had ever met. Nothing whatsoever like any of Thor's other sisters and brothers. Estia, for example, he shuddered in memory. He loved his sister very, _very_ much… but she had Odin’s face, he swore it! She looked _nothing_ like her fiery mother, she looked _exactly_ like Odin! She even had his frown and glare!

Loptr looked nothing at all like Odin. Not his eyes, not his mouth, not even his hands! Thor chuckled internally at his good fortune. Even that peasant _Loki_ looked more like Odin than Loptr did!

Speaking of Loki, Thor hadn’t seen him in a while. He clenched his fists. It was _completely_ irrational that he would feel negatively towards Helblindi for any of this, of course. Why should he feel bad about Helblindi sleeping with somebody who was a self-confessed whore? _Except that Loki was so much smaller than him, and Helblindi must be tearing him apart, especially in his heat! Thor_ ** _really_** _ought to do something about that! It was the honourable thing to do, surely._

And that was how, in the middle of the night, Thor wound up walking over to Helblindi’s chambers. Thor knocked on the door. Thor heard some groans and grunts and then the door was open.

“Thor Prince” Helblindi bowed, face flush. “How may I be of assistance?” Laufey hated how polite Helblindi was. But Loki saw it as a good thing, and Helblindi had always trusted the wisdom of his younger brother.

“I just came to check up on you and see how you were doing,” Thor knew that he wouldn’t have much of an effect on the Jotunn, not when they were so physically incompatible. Loki did, but only because they were of the same species and had lain together. It was common sense.

“Oh, I am doing alright, Thor. Why don’t you come in?” Helblindi being Helblindi had not realised that the ‘not-attracted-to-kin’ thing seemed not to apply to cross-species siblings (or maybe it was just Loki), because the moment that Thor’s scent hit Loki’s nostrils, Loki sat bolt up and they locked eyes.

Loki was sweaty, his hair all mussed and his face flushed. With that desperate look on his face he was irresistible. Thor wanted to just eat him right up, then and there. _Snap out of it! He is a peasant, he is beneath you, and besides, you are not here to bed him! He’s not even beautiful or anything! Have you_ ** _seen_** _your own brother? Your own brother is_ ** _way_** _more attractive than he is! Loptr had long flowing hair and a figure to die for! Loki is slender but in a simple way!_

But, especially in this lighting, there was something regal about Loki in a way that was indescribable regardless of how much he tried to deny it. His features seemed sharper, his gait more refined, and his eyes just the slightest bit bigger. And Thor **_wanted_**!

Oblivious to most things, but apparently not _this_ sexual tension, Helblindi shuffled awkwardly. “Maybe it is best that we talk ou-”

“ _Fuck me_!” Loki’s voice came out, barely more than a hoarse whisper. Thor tented his pants. “Fuck me Thor, I **_need_** it. Please have mercy, I’ve been wet and aching for _days!_ ” he began to get up. Helblindi swooped Thor out and shut the door behind them. “ ** _Ngah!_** ” Loki’s wail was heart-wrenching.

“I apologise for my… for my Loki. He is, uhm, in heat as well.”

“I see,” Thor kept his face as neutral as possible.

“Well, I am well and fine Thor friend, but thank you so much for stopping by. I apologise for how long we have been gone now. Has my brother’s heat started yet?”

“No not yet.”

Helblindi chuckled. “Sorcerers,” he lied, “you can never predict it with them. But you are staying until the end of the month anyways… or the end of this snowstorm by the looks of it.”

“Yeah,” Thor supposed that it was true. “Thank you Helblindi Prince, your words have been reassuring.”

“It is always a pleasure to serve another royal family,” Helblindi smiled. “I ought to go back, Loki will go crazy without me.” And just like that, Thor hated him again. Stupid lumbering oaf.

.

Thor could not deny that he was happy to see Loki again once his heat was over, much as he was loathe to admit it. Loptr’s heat was still yet to come, and Loki’s eyes had widened wide at seeing Loptr at the table.

Thor had resolved to be nicer to Loki. It wasn’t his fault that he was promiscuous, and besides, it wasn’t harmful to merely befriend someone, right? No sense in being stubbornly mean to him. And besides, it would be nice to talk to someone other than the four people he had been speaking too since he had gotten here.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is hella short, but there wasn't really any good ways to continue it, I felt like what happened at the end was pretty much the climax of the whole thing, though you might personally disagree.

“Why have you suddenly decided to be civil?” Loki asked as Thor invited him to hang out with him and Jarnsaxa- oh, sorry, _Loptr._

Loki had always hated that name. _Loptr_. He hadn’t realised it, of course, until he had met Angrboda. No, at first he had merely thought that he hated himself. Then he had come to realise, as Angrboda fondly nicknamed him _Loki_ , that what he hated was what he represented in Laufey’s court, what his existence represented, what his father’s (well, _mother’s_ ) plans for him were, what his entire existence revolved around. He hated Loptr, the construct, not necessarily the person. No, the person, _Loki_ , as he dubbed himself, had _much_ more freedom, much more liberties, and most importantly: he didn’t have to do jackshit, he wrote his own destiny.

“Just trying to be friendly,” Thor shrugged.

“Right,” Loki nodded. Thor was hot, he was always going to have said yes. “Okay then, and is Loptr alright with this?”

“Yes, he says he has forgiven you for your prior transgressions,” Loki clenched his fists. That _worm_! “He says that it is unimportant that you are a homewrecker. He is benevolent like that.”

Loki couldn’t understand Jarnsaxa’s reasoning for it, but he shrugged and smiled. “Sure.” He’d done his best to hide it, but he was furious with the idea that Jarnsaxa was masquerading as him, had been since the day he’d found out. He’d wanted to get Jarnsaxa back since day one, but… embarrassingly, there was something about Jarnsaxa that had always made Loki feel… well, it was hard to put.

Embarrassed? Scared? For what, he did not know. Sure, everyone always praised Jarnsaxa for everything and criticised Loki’s very being, but he’d never cared much for it. It wasn’t as though he thought about Jarnsaxa much when they weren’t around one another, it was more that he was… intimidated(?) by him whenever he saw him, or something like that. Just… something about him that made Loki unable/hesitant to approach him. It hadn’t existed before that time that they’d reunited after Jarnsaxa had left Laufey’s court, but surely that wasn’t it… Loki very sincerely hoped that that was not it. If he ever needed counselling on this problem later, there was no way in Helheim that he could admit what had happened there, what they had done. They had both sworn to take it to their graves. Their _graves_.

“Where shall we be going?”

“Out.”

“Out is blocked.” If it hadn’t been he’d have gotten the heck out of dodge _weeks_ ago!

“Out to the greenhouse, there is a path. It is nice there, less formal.”

“Oh, alright.”

“You’ll love it. Flowers are beautiful, though I do understand that a commoner such as yourself is unlikely to have ever seen any-” aaaand then Thor began his oblivious babbling about how uncultured Loki was. _Hah! If you think that I am uncultured, you should take another look at who you are going to be bedding soon enough!_

“That sounds lovely,” Loki smiled politely at him. “Where is this greenhouse?” He was a good actor.

“Oh, it’s just outside the throne room,” at Loki’s puzzled look he just shook his head. “I will collect you from your chambers when we’re ready to leave. Where are you residing?”

“With Helblindi,” Loki smiled sweetly. “His rooms are-”

“I know where his rooms are!” Thor snapped. Loki was taken aback by his sudden anger. Why on earth was this half-brother of his so snappy. Hmph. It must be an Asgardian thing.

.

“Psst! Loki!” Loki turned up, startled. His brother was out, he had the room to himself. He looked up into the rafters where the noise had come from and his eyes widened.

“ _Angrboda_!?” He hissed.

“Loki, I have come to rescue you.”

Fuck.


	13. Chapter 13

Loki had no idea what to do with Angrboda. He couldn’t tell him to his face that he had changed his plans, no, he had intended to do so via an untraceable letter. So instead he looked up at Angrboda with doe eyes. “Baby, there’s a blizzard outside, we can’t leave.”

He could see from the tired slump in Angrboda’s shoulders that he knew that Loki was right. After all, Angrboda knew twice the seidr (possibly more) that Loki knew and look at him: he was half-dead from his trip. All flushed and out of breath. It was almost romantic, _aw!_ What a shame Loki had no intentions on ever getting back together with him.

Angrboda took a leap down to the ground and stretched, dizzily. He extended an unwelcome arm around Loki’s waist and brought him in, holding him for a moment and just breathing him in. "I have missed you so much.”

Damn that, that voice that always reeled him right back in. Well, he supposed that he could wait to tell Angrboda that they weren’t getting back together.

Loki heard a knock at the door. “ _Loki_!” Thor.

“Just a second!” Loki called back. “You need to hide.”

“Hide, why?”

“My brothers don’t like you.”

“That didn’t sound like one of your brothers… wait… is that why you didn’t come to me in the Ironwood!? You want to shack up with him, don’t you!?”

“What!? No! I couldn’t leave because of the storm, now I’m stuck here! I must go, hide yourself or leave!” Loki hissed. Angrboda harrumphed and Loki counted it as a victory as he slipped out.

The moment that he was out, he was faced with Thor and Jarnsaxa- oh, sorry, _prince Loptr_.

“Ah, Loki, it has been a while,” Jarnsaxa smiled sickly-sweet at him. Loki could end this whole damn thing right now and get the thunder d he craved.

“Prince Loptr, a pleasure as always,” Loki said with faux sweetness while mentally gagging.

“Great, you’ve said ‘hi’, now let’s go,” Thor placed an arm around both of their waists and the trio started walking towards the greenhouse. Loki could feel Angrboda’s quizzical eyes burning into him.

.

“And _this_ is a Lily of the Valley,” Jarnsaxa pointed at the white bell-shaped flowers. “And _this_ is Marleyborne!” He pointed at the red flowers. Both Loki and Jarnsaxa were having a hard time enjoying this, but Thor had insisted that Jarnsaxa show the flowers to Loki, deeming Loki a poor peasant in need of a cultural education.

Loki’s eyes drifted to the Blood Lily, he stared transfixed. Angrboda had given him that, when they were young and had just started dating. A show of his love, back when Angrboda was just a well-kept secret, slowly sweeping him off of his feet. Not that much had changed, of course. Not even his brothers believed that Angrboda was real. Only Jarnsaxa knew he was real, and that was because he’d briefly dated him.

“Yes, it is quite beautiful,” Thor had noticed him looking.

“It’s a Blood Lily,” Thor’s eyes widened, whether with recognition or amazement that Loki had spoken for the first time in half an hour, Loki did not know. “It’s beautiful but tragic.”

“Tragic? How?”

“The only story in the Nine that mentions them involves a big funeral and a weeping lover who turned their dead lover into a flower using his blood and tears and magic and stuff to keep him with her forever.” Loki deadpanned. “She wore him in her hair till she died, and that’s why they say the dirt at the bottom of the stem is always mound shaped.” At Thor and Jarnsaxa’s wide eyes, Loki sighed. “It’s from _Vanaheim_ , they like stories like that there.” He said, folding his arms across his chest. He was tired, he’d spent the past nine days mostly in bed, and he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Angrboda was here now and that he was going to ruin everything. “It was nice to see you, but I am growing tired. Take care, princes Thor and Ja-Loptr.” Jarnsaxa glared at him. Well sue Loki for almost calling Jarnsaxa by his own damned name!

.

When Loki got back into Helblindi’s room, Helblindi was there waiting for him.

“Brother!” Helblindi smiled. “You’ll never guess what! A new person just stopped by, a man called Thiazi. He is a runt, just like you!” Loki’s heart sank, what had Angrboda done? “He will be staying in my personal chambers until the storm ends, he got lost out in it.” Helblindi chuckled. “You know, it’s funny: Father wanted to chuck him out, but mother made father let him stay. Mother’s always had a soft spot for runts.”

_Yeah_ , Loki thought, bitterly. _Farbauti_ ** _has_** _always had a_ ** _thing_** _for littler people_ , he shuddered. Farbauti was… Farbauti was something else. Loki hadn’t gotten it when he was young, but as he grew older he began to realise that Farbauti was a warrior, and that though he was outwardly alright with being a Frostbitch, there was something within him that craved power over someone more vulnerable because deep down he just _wasn’t_ okay with taking it up the cunt any time that Laufey wished. Loki hadn’t realised that his fists were clenched until he felt a liquid pouring down them. Blood. Great. Farbauti had managed to hurt him without even being there, he thought to himself bitterly.

“Can I sleep with you?” Loki asked his brother.

The request stunned Helblindi, but the older Jotunn just nodded. “Alright, if that is what you want, then sure.”

“Thank you.” Loki knew that it was selfish, and that there was little that Helblindi could do if Angrboda decided to come for him, but it was better than nothing. No, Angrboda was his mess and he’d sort it out for himself. It wasn’t even that he never wanted to see the man again: he just wanted a break, dammit! Yes, he loved Angrboda to the moon and back, but sometimes just being around him was _suffocating_ … literally, actually.

_You will never fight nor fuck someone as passionately as you do Angrboda_.

Yes, and that was just the problem, now wasn’t it?

.

“He took the runt out on a date!” Tyr fumed at Baldr.

“I thought Loptr was with them?”

“He was, but why did he take Loki out too!? Up until now he had been content just ignoring the damned thing!”

“Brother, I am sure that it was meaningless. Maybe he took Loki out to give Helblindi some time to himself. And besides, Thor wouldn’t take someone already in a relationship!”

It was palace gossip that Helblindi was dating Loki. Not many were in on the gossip, but the Asgardians and a couple of servants knew about it. Obviously nobody dared to insinuate to Laufey that his son was romantically involved with a runt. Everyone knew that Laufey hated runts. He only tolerated Loki because he risked war if he didn’t. Even their father knew that.

“He is growing suspiciously close to Loki. You know that he went to see Helblindi during his heat?”

“What!?”

“Yes, Valkyrie told me. She’s watching him for us.”

“For us?”

“It’s for the good of Asgard.” Tyr was adamant about this. He really really was.

“Right. Anyways, what are we to do about this?”

“There’s a new runt here.”

“There is!?”

“Yeah, Valkyrie told me.” Baldr wondered why she never told Baldr anything… hmm… “Anyways, if we can push Loki with that other runt, then he will spend less time with Thor.”

“That is a good idea brother, and surprisingly sane. We shall try that.” Baldr nodded.


	14. Chapter 14

Thor’s eyes raked over Thiazi. He was broad chested but lean, handsome beyond reason, and slightly taller than Loki, who was already pretty tall for a runt. Thor didn’t like him. Not because of his looks… there was something else there, something dishonest, a secret that he was hiding. Thor could also tell that this man was bad news. Plus, he kept flirting with Loki, not that Thor cared.

He turned to his half-brother Loptr and was amazed to find that Loptr couldn’t take his eyes off of Thiazi. “Have you ever met him before?”

“Wha-no.” Loptr stated, but there was a look in his eyes. Thor knew that he was hiding something. He decided not to pry. He could get Brunnhilde to pry, Norns knew that she was good at it.

Across the table Jarnsaxa made a gesture to Loki. They needed to talk.

.

Jarnsaxa and Loki stalked to the library where they believed that they could get some reprieve.

“I see no point in leaving him out of this, you know that he can listen in if he want to!” Loki snapped. He was angry and tired and just downright cranky. “For as long as he is here the walls have ears.”

“You think I do not know that? We’ve _both_ been with him,” Jarnsaxa snapped back, angry at Loki pointing out the obvious, as though he _wasn’t_ aware that Jarnsaxa had managed to bag Angrboda. “He’s just walking around plain-faced, _how_!?”

“Well, for starters dear cousin, nobody believes that he exists. He could get away with murder in his own face and they wouldn’t know who to pin it on.”

“What do you suggest that we do?”

“‘ _Do_ ’? There is nothing we _can_ do. Neither you nor I have the seidr-prowess to challenge him. For as long as we are around him we are slaves to his whim, you and I both know that.”

“What about Thor, we could get him to challenge him, surely…”

“Slaying a member of a kingdom that you are a guest in is a surefire way to end whatever facade of peace we have left,” Loki sighed, head in his hands. “I mean, we have no proof of ill-intention. I _genuinely_ believe that he just came here to get me.”

“To get you?” Jarnsaxa sounded outraged.

“Well, yes, that was where I was headed, to live with him.”

“I see.” Jarnsaxa’s voice was crisp. “Well, as long as his intentions aren’t entirely malicious sure- why not just let him be.”

“Right. But we’re going to have to let him pull the strings here. It wouldn’t do well to get out that ‘Thiazi’ isn’t Thiazi.”

.

“What do you have for me?” Thor gestured to a seat for Brunnhilde.

“That runt is good at casting silencing seidr,” Brunnhilde complimented. Thor flushed with pride. He’d known that Loptr would be a star with seidr from the moment that he had laid eyes upon him. “But luckily _I_ am used to listening in on hushed conversations. I managed to catch that they are worried about this man and that he’s up to no good. Loki wanted you to kill him but Loptr said it was a bad idea because you are a visiting dignitary.” She was pretty sure that she’d gotten that the right way round.

“Right,” Thor nodded. Loki wanted him to kill a man. If only they were on Asgard. Wait, **_focus_**! This man was dangerous and potentially put his entire operation here at risk. Loptr was due to go into heat in a few days, what if that was why the man was here? To ruin his entire mission. He’d heard of renegades who were opposed to Asgard’s rule. Disrupting this process would certainly put Asgard’s claim on Jotunheimr at risk, especially if he were to simply kill Loptr. Thor was going to have to be on guard.

For his brother. For his kingdom. For that endearing little runt that was just his friend!

.

Thor went to the library. It was a quiet day, Loptr was experiencing mild stomach cramps (a good sign, Thor had been told, as it meant that Loptr’s heat would be starting soon, within the week). Thor had decided that it would be prudent to learn about Jotunheimr’s history and great texts a bit more in his free time (it was boring, but he was sure that it would pay of when he took on the reigns of Asgard’s ruler. After all, there was never harm in knowing something even if it wasn’t immediately useful).

Tyr was going to meet him in a bit, but was showering. Baldr had been spending all of his time in the library and this was his _one day off of it_. Brunnhilde heard that _Thor_ was going to the **_library_** and cackled. She said she’d be down in an hour.

Thor walked in and immediately noticed Loki and _Thiazi_ in the library. Thiazi had his hands all over the poor, helpless runt. It was so clear that Loki was uncomfortable, Thor _had_ to do something.

“A-hem,” he coughed loudly.

The two broke apart. “Prince Thor, are you in need of something?” Loki asked, startled.

“Yes, I was wondering if you knew of a good history book on Jotunheimr?”

A book materialised in front of him, and Thiazi looked smug. Oh, so this new runt was a seidrmadr, how _nice_. Thor clenched his fists. “Why thank you, _Loki_ , always a pleasure.” He turned, knowing full-well that Loki’s seidr hadn’t been the one to give him that book.

.

They went somewhere else today. Loki had suggested that they just explore the castle. Loptr had been offended at the thought of a commoner intruding even further into his own home. Thor could empathise with them both. Thiazi was nowhere in sight, and _boy_ was Thor grateful for that.

“I didn’t know _Mud Louters_ even cared for castles and the like. Your kind are known for being _extremely_ simple,” Jarnsaxa bitched.

“I’m not a Mud Louter. Actually, I grew up in King Thrym’s kingdom. He is a kind and benevolent king, very good to those in need.” Loki hit Jarnsaxa where he knew it hurt. Why not? Why the fuck not embarrass Jarnsaxa in front of Thor? Why not seduce the handsome, handsome man? Who cared if it started a war? Fuck Jotunheimr and fuck Asgard!

“King Thrym is the scum of the earth, and never once has he _ever_ raised so much as a finger to aid someone in need. When his wife gave birth to a runt he beat her to death.”

“That’s ghastly!” Thor gasped, amazed at the cruelty of this barbaric race.

“In any case, that is simply a rumour and not true,” Loki said, coolly, glaring hard at Jarnsaxa. Just because his father didn’t want him didn’t mean that he had to buy into such horrible rumours.

“Oh, and how would you know?”

“My mother was one of the healers in attendance that day. She bled out J-Loptr. That was how she died.” He couldn’t stop that ominous tone in his voice.

“Take care of how you talk to me, peasant.” Jarnsaxa’s register lowered.

“Oh, I’m sorry, _Your Highness_ ,” Loki hissed back.

“Her? I didn’t know that there were female Jotnar,” Thor commented. He couldn’t let these two (what was it that Loptr had called them again? Frostbitches? Seemed derogatory, but then he could easily think of things on Asgard that were twice as derogatory) fight. It was killing his vibe.

“We don’t, it’s derogatory.” Loki’s voice was monotone.

“Calling people women as an insult is rude.” Thor frowned.

“Really? I thought men were often emasculated on Asgard for doing ‘womanly’ things. What’s that word you have for it? _Ergi_?”

“How do you know so much about Asgard?” Thor challenged.

“I’ve heard about the place.”

“How? You’re a peasant.”

“It is not that hard to garner information about the one kingdom that rules all others,” Loki said spitefully. He glanced tiredly at the clock. “Alas, it is getting late. I shall take my leave,” Loki exited without another word.

Thor turned to his furious half-brother. “Why do you keep inviting him?” Loptr fumed.

“I thought that it would be fun. He’s your size, you really ought to get along.”

“What? With _him_!? Need I remind you that he’s the one who made my boyfriend cheat on me!”

_Well,_ it wasn’t morally right to hook up with people who you knew were in monogamous relationships, but it was even worse to be the person that was _actually_ cheating, it showed that you had no respect for your partner. Thor wouldn’t blame Angrboda’s actions on Loki, it’s not like he made Angrboda’s choices.

Thor diplomatically said none of this.

.

Angrboda was waiting for Loki in the lounge area of Helblindi’s wing.

“Loki, you’re back early.”

“Jarnsaxa was pissing me off.” Loki pinched the bridge of his nose, collapsing down onto the couch next to Angrboda and allowing his ex to loop an arm around his waist.

“Well, it’s nice to have you around.”

“What were you doing anyways?”

“Your brother wanted to see me. He has no idea who I am.”

“It is better kept that way,” Loki chuckled. “I was bedridden for a week because of you.”

“Ditto.” Loki’s seidr had deflected much of Angrboda’s back onto himself. “You’re the feistiest Jotunn I’ve ever met.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. It’s hot.” Loki smiled. It was always nice to receive a compliment. Many described him as self-centred and chaotic… he didn’t disagree and saw no point in changing himself to fit other people’s ideals. That didn’t mean he was getting back with Boda though, at least not yet anyways. Though it couldn’t hurt to just… hang out until this accursed snowstorm was over (it had been snowing heavy for two weeks now, what the Frigg!?)

“You let him call you Loki,” Angrboda observed, tracing a pattern down Loki’s neck. The nice, soft ones that gave you shivers.

“Well, I can’t have him calling me ‘Loptr’ or he’ll figure it all out,” Loki chuckled.

“So you two aren’t…?”

“Nope!” But I wouldn’t mind a good fuck or two. I’ve heard he has a big dick. I want that big dick.

“Good.” Angrboda breathed out a sigh of relief.

That meant that his pools were wrong. His pools did, admittedly, only show possibilities that he could intercept and change (seidr was the manipulation of fate after all), but it had still worried him when he had seen that image of Loki wedding Thor wearing _Aesir_ skin. It had bothered him beyond reason. Loki was _his_ , Loki would **_always_** be his.

That was just how it was meant to be.


	15. Chapter 15

Thor had, upon reflection, come to the conclusion that his brother had been a little rude to Loki yesterday. He decided that he would make amends with Loki for both he and Loptr. He set Valkyrie to guard Loptr lest Thiazi try and kill him, and made his way out of the Asgard Ward, as he had dubbed it.

He tried Helblindi’s room, but the runt wasn’t there. Thiazi’s room was completely deserted. Thor didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Finally, Thor tried the greenhouse. _Bingo_!

“Hey,” Thor said, walking up to Loki.

“Um, hello.” After the previous night, Loki had been certain that Thor wouldn’t want to talk to him for a while.

“I’m just here to apologise for last night,” Thor noticed the pot in Loki’s hands, “What’s that?”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. And this is just a flower I’ve been trying to grow for a while.”

“Oh? You’re into botany?”

“Sort of. It’s a flower made of seidr, I’m trying to end the storm.” And then Thor would never see Loki again. Thor didn’t like the emptiness he felt in his gut, that sudden drop. He’d never felt it before, and in all honesty he felt no reason to.

“Oh? How do you make a flower out of seidr?”

“You use your blood.”

“Blood?”

“Yeah, it’s blood seidr.”

“That sounds dark.”

“Mmm, in a way, but it’s also more powerful than normal seidr. Even the most powerful seidrfolk wouldn’t be able to lift this storm without at least a little blood seidr.”

Thor nodded. He didn’t _agree_ with Loki, because obviously Frigga would have been able to lift this storm with a swish of her hand, but he didn’t want to argue.

“Is there a cost? On your soul, I mean?”

“No.”

Thor thought for a moment. “Were you trained by the Vanir High Witches?”

“No. But I was trained by one of their disciples.” Loki answered truthfully.

Thor frowned. “That forest witch you spoke of, Angrboda?”

“Yeah,” Loki admitted eventually.

Thor knew that he should hate Loki for going after a partnered man, but he just couldn’t bring himself to it. There was something about this surly little Jotunn that just excited him beyond reason.

“So, how long did that one last? You and Angrboda?”

“We’ve been on-again-off-again for nearly a century. We fight, we break up, we kiss, we make up.” Loki shrugged, then chuckled. “Well, we don’t _kiss_.” Thor. Was. Not. Seeing. Red. And really, it wouldn’t have made any sense for him to. “What about you, Thunderer, what about that Sif of yours?”

“Well, we’ve been friends since we were young,” he chuckled. “Believe it or not, I used to be even more arrogant than I am now… she changed me for the better, I think. I wouldn’t be who I am today without her.”

“Which is why you wish to marry her,” Loki smiled knowingly. Even though he hated the bitch, he could understand where Thor was coming from. Besides, he didn’t want to **_marry_** Thor, he just had a few positions he wanted to try out with Thor. Speaking of… “It’s sweet, truly.” Loki bent down. He’d been given a few furs and worn rags by Byleistr, because for very obvious reasons if he wore his usual clothes his father would _definitely_ notice. The clothes kept him warm, sure, but they were slightly torn (it had to be convincing, he’d been told), and if he were crafty enough he could position those holes _just_ right.

He pretended he didn’t notice Thor’s eyes roving over him. Pretended he couldn’t _feel_ Thor’s eyes drift lower and lower and lower as Loki reached for the watering can. Pretended he couldn’t feel the cool breeze rush over the small hole just above his vagina. Pretended he wasn’t purposefully tempting Thor.

He got up and poured water over his plant and waving his hand, muttering a few words. He wasn’t feeling a pulse, no life there. This was odd. Thor noticed the look on Loki’s face and gulped. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes… this seed has not taken root,” Loki frowned. He clicked his fingers and a blade materialised in them. Thor’s eyes widened, as Loki moved to cut his hand.

Loki felt a sudden force on his right wrist and frowned, looking at Thor. “What?”

“Don’t do that.”

“What? _This?_ ” And then it dawned on him, and he let out a laugh. “Do not tell me that Thor the Thunderer is afraid of a little blood.”

“I just don’t see the point in unnecessary bloodshed.”

“It’s not unnecessary. It’s just to clear the storm, then you and I can be on our merry little ways.”

“Still… you’ve already planted the seed, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Then let me take care of it. I have a green thumb.” Loki eyed him sceptically.

“This is not some normal plant, Thor.”

“I am not some normal gardener,” Thor winked at him, sending a flush through his body and making his heart pound. “I am a god of fertility, I am certain that I can make your flower bloom.” Oh the innuendo.

Loki, flustered, just let out a nod and passed it to him. “Two days and then I try again.”

“Deal.” Thor smiled, walking out as best an unnoticeably as he could with an erection in his pants. The site of that warm opening, even though it was through a hole the size of his thumb, did things to him.


	16. Chapter 16

Loki was astounded when he visited Thor’s chambers, not two days later but rather the next morning, and found a little tendril of violet peeking up over the sand.

“How did you get it to take?” Loki gasped in awe.

“‘It’?” Thor teased. “You mean _Leafy_ , my new friend.”

Loki looked at him, astonishment scrawled over his features as though a child had drawn it there with black marker. “You can speak to plants?”

“No, no,” Thor chuckled, drawing Loki in with an arm around his waist and a quick nuzzle. “I just tease,” he kissed Loki’s neck and froze, his arm immediately falling. Loki seemed to notice it as well.

“Thor, we can’t.” He lied. He knew how to play hard to get. “We… we just can’t.”

“I know,” Thor sighed. “It sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, whatever, I am sorry for having had trespassed.”

“Take no fault upon yourself, it was I who invited myself into your chambers.” Thor liked to save maidens? Loki would give him a maiden to save. A shy one, bumbling. It wasn’t like he’d have to _live_ like this, it was just a quick fuck he wanted out of the man, nothing more. “I shall take my leave.” Thor looked like he wanted to beg him to stay, but said nothing.

.

“That runt of Helblindi’s is odd,” Laufey commented to his spouse.

“How do you mean?” Farbauti asked, adjusting an earring Laufey had bought him in his ear. It was golden, chandelier drop, beautiful against his blue skin. He had to be presentable for dinner, his nephew was to go into heat soon, he had to look more decorous than ever.

“He is spending a lot of time around prince Thor, and I am worried that that little rodent might be attracted to him.”

“So? Prince Thor likely thinks nothing of him.”

“I was talking _about_ _Thor_.”

Farbauti chuckled, “Trust me, husband, Thor thinks nothing of the runt.”

“And you?”

“How do _you_ mean?”

“Well, that was quite the revelation that you made about sleeping with runts,” Laufey shrugged.

“What? You’re not jealous, are you?” Farbauti smirked, lifting his chin up in glee.

“No, of course not.”

“Then what? Upset that I haven’t always been the good little frost bitch you wanted? Sad that I was a stud?” Farbauti said, a smile on his face despite his bitter voice.

_Yes_ , Laufey thought, but didn’t say. He didn’t need to though, his silence was enough. Farbauti turned back to the mirror he stood in front of. He was fine, honestly, playing Laufey’s little Frost Bitch. Sure, he was a warrior of great acclaim, and yeah, people probably looked at him differently ever since he had submitted to Laufey, but hey: he was with the love of his life. At the end of the day, and he was grateful for that, honestly he was. It wasn’t like the sex was unpleasurable: to be quite frank it was by far the best he’d had in his life. Really, he had nothing to complain about, really.

.

It wasn’t that Thor was embarrassed to have kissed Loki, it was more like it was nobody’s business.

Thor had kissed plenty of people in his lifetime, had been in **_loads_** of relationships. He had dated an older woman, Fulla, once. She was one of his ‘mother’’s attendants, unmarried by choice, and downright freaky in bed. He had dated Garla, a flower maiden at the annual Hay Day Parade, held as a symbol of respect to nature (and to Thor’s mother). That love had been gentler, softer. But they hadn’t worked out and had split a month into it. Even now he could remember holding her in the autumn months, the wind blowing in their hair, how tiny she had been against him. Most women were, Thor was _huge_. There had been Jess next, a battle maiden (not as good as Sif), buxom and bold, just how Thor liked his women. Their’s had been heated jabs at one another followed by passionate nights in tents. Their relationship had lasted the entire Araday Campaign, all twelve years of it. Well, in retrospect, it hadn’t been much of a _relationship_ , he supposed, more of a: friends with benefits, but Sif had disapproved of it nonetheless.

_“You become a brute when you are around her.”_

_“So?”_

_“Thor, you must stop this! It is unbecoming of the heir of Asgard.”_

_“I’m not Asgardian,” he chuckled, it had been a long day. “Remmeber, barely a quarter.”_

_“You are Asgardian where it counts,” she jabbed him in the chest. “Here. And your people know that. And your people will follow you on that alone. It does not do well to have a kingdom follow someone who is rowdy and brutish.”_

She really had changed him for the better. He couldn’t wait to be home and hold her again. They could talk about this entire fiasco and laugh about it. He knew she’d find it amusing. She always did. Norns he loved her!

.

“What do you have over there?” Loptr called, walking into Thor’s rooms. He had his bedleigh on, red, and his usual sparkly jewellery and veil covering his head. He was a sight for sore eyes with that hair of his. Blonde, just like Thor’s, just like Thor liked them. It would be, in hindsight, kind of hot to be here _while_ Loptr was pregnant, keep him company, nurse on his tits. Yeah, he had a bit of a lactation fetish, he blamed it on being a god of fertility.

“Oh, this? This is just a flower I’m growing.”

“Oh, you are a keen botanist?”

“No, not really,” Thor chuckled at the thought of himself out on a farm, on a tractor, weeding things… actually, that didn’t sound half-bad (definitely better than being king and listening to his father’s councilmen drone _on and on and on_!) “I’m just growing this for Loki.”

“Oh,” Loptr’s eyebrow twitched. “Why would he want that.”

“It’s a seidr plant. He wants to use it to get rid of this storm.”

Jarnsaxa could see that Loki was going to ruin everything for him, there was only one thing to do: sabotage.

“Oh, did he say that?” Loptr shook his head sadly at Thor. “Thor, Thor, Thor, look around. This storm is unable to be lifted. If it _was_ liftable, then _I_ would have done it by now,” he looked at Thor with sad eyes. “Alas, it is impossible.”

“But Loki says he knows how. His boyfriend taught him!”

“Boyfriend?”

“Well, ex. The one you two shared, Angrboda.”

Loptr snorted. “Angrboda is a seidrmadr, but he can barely make a kite fly.”

“But he’s the _Forest Witch_! Trained by the Vanir High Witches.”

Loptr sighed. “Oh boy. Thor, the Forest Witch doesn’t exist. And even if he did, it certainly wouldn’t be _Angrboda_. The man is a simpleton, raised alongside the Wildermen in the frozen tundra of the North.”

“But then-”

“Thor, you’re going to want to have a seat,” his brother led him to his bed. Loptr sat down beside him and took his hands in his daintier ones. His beautiful, soft, daintier ones. “Thor… since I have known Loki he has suffered from… mental problems.”

“Like?”

“He is delusional at best, and a pathological liar at worst. I do not know what his deal with _my_ ex is, but Angrboda is _not_ the Forest Witch, and Loki can _not_ lift this storm.”

“So then why would he do this? Grow this flower, I mean.”

“A seidr flower, one this fragrant,” Loptr chuckled, looking Thor dead in the eyes. “Thor, you fool, he has been putting a love spell on you.”

“Wha-?” Thor’s eyes widened. “But why would he do that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? He wishes to seduce you, to marry you and to become your Queen. From there he will take reign over Asgard and overthrow you.”

Suddenly it all made sense now. He had thought, from the first day, that it was odd that he was attracted to such a simple and plain creature, a man who was genderless at best and masculine otherwise, given that he was usually attracted to decorated women, with ample bosoms and glossy smiles. And he had slept with Helblindi too. Had that been his plot at first? Marry Helblindi and take over Jotunheimr? When he met Thor, had he switched gears once realising that Thor was the better option, because with Thor came: more fame, more money, more power, and a husband who wouldn’t choke him to death on a single fucking?

He remembered Loki’s face, begging him to take him. And then what: Loki would be pregnant and his status elevated. It made his blood boil at the thought of somebody using a child to climb socially, children were meant to be revered and loved, not to elevate oneself in society.

He felt a sudden wave of disgust. Thor turned to his brother. “Cure me, please, I beg of you. Cure me of whatever that monster has done to me.”

Loptr smiled lovingly at him, running a hand through his hair. “Do not worry, brother, now that you are aware, the charm should lose its effect. Do not worry brother, you are safe now.” Loptr leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on Thor’s lips.

This would work very well in his favour, yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaaah! I wanted this one to be short and simple but a vision for the ending flashed in my head and it involved a sequel! :( Hopefully I'll think of a better ending, because I really want to finish all my fics before university starts... whenever it starts.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a shorty, but I thought adding more would ruin it.

Loki was confused by Thor’s absence. Not that he _truly_ had any right to be, just that Thor usually visited him in the morning, had been doing so on a daily basis. He was fine though, he just spend some time with Angrboda.

Angrboda had sworn left right and centre that this time they were to be just friends, which was why they were cuddling together on the couch watching this thing that Angrboda had brought from a journey to Midgard: something called a ‘TV’. They were currently watching a film on it.

.

Thor was livid. It had been eating at him all night. He wanted Loki to pay, but the rational part of his brain told him to just avoid the man entirely. After all, why _should_ he interact with a peasant on a state visit?

And he decided to do exactly that. He was going to avoid Loki, yes, that was it.

He cracked at about ten in the morning.

Thor stormed into Helblindi’s chambers, lightning crackling in his hands, flower pot in his hand.

He walked in on that egotistical, foul-mouthed, money hungry little _slut_ curled up around poor unsuspecting Thiazi. Well, Thor was going to change that.

“You deceitful whore!” Thor accused pointing a wild finger at Loki, sparks dipping out of it. Loki took in a gulp of breath, well and properly terrified, Angrboda pulled him in close for protection. “I know what you have done, I know what _this_ is!” Thor waggled the pot. Angrboda’s eyes widened but he wisely chose not to say anything. He knew that Loki was working undercover here, more so he knew that if worst came to worst he couldn’t get them out of here. This snow was messing with his teleportation, bad weather always did, it was hard to concentrate on the path to take when snow kept blocking your way.

Suddenly the pot burst and there was hot ceramic flying everywhere. Loki watched in horror, after having had shielded himself from the pieces, as the flower went up in flames. He felt a sudden burn in his arm. Angrboda muttered **_let it be_** and the burn stopped. Oh right, he had forgotten to sever the bond with the plant.

“What’s your problem?” Angrboda demanded, once he was certain that Loki was alright.

“My problem is that that little snake in your arms is a liar and a whore! He tried to cast a love spell on me and I see his trying one out on you too! He wanted that damned plant to bewitch me!”

“Do you really think yourself so desirable as to charm?” Angrboda got up. He knew he wasn’t as burly as Thor, but he had hidden strength. He was lean but bigger than Loki, bulkier, more defined, similar in stature but unquestionably stronger. And he knew damned well that he could be intimidating as fuck. “What swivel has landed itself between your ears in that dung-pile you call a brain!?”

Loki looked absolutely terrified. _Don’t worry baby, daddy will protect you. I knew that scrying pool had to be wrong, you could_ ** _never_** _be with an oaf like him. You’re too smart for that, aren’t you baby?_

Thor turned to Angrboda with a murderous expression on his face. “I will overlook your tone, commoner, because you are bewitched. But know this, he is _dangerous_.”

Angrboda chuckled. “I assure you, Odinspawn, that any danger sweet Loki could possess, I possess it tenfold.”

Thor let out a disturbed noise before turning to leave, before he could turn around and close the door, it was slammed shut behind him so hard that the candles on the walls (weird for an ice palace) blew out across the corridor. Weird… ominous if anything. He would be avoiding Loki and Thiazi for the remainder of his visit, he supposed.

.

“You made a seidr flower to try end the storm,” Angrboda tutted, drawing out Loki’s arm. He stopped at his hand where the cut was, and bent low to kiss it. “My sweet Loki, you should have told me! I would have volunteered my blood.”

“I was just fine doing it on my own.”

“Nonsense, any blood that you shed is a waste of the Norns’ precious gift.”

“Which is?”

“You,” Angrboda said it so deeply Loki felt his lips start to tingle down there.

“Boda,” Loki sighed, tired, “We always do this. We date and then we break up, and it gets more violent every time.”

“I know.”

“I barely survived the last break up, I don’t know if I could this one,” Loki ran a hand through his hair. “Please, let us just be friends. I can not live without you, clearly, but we’re bad for each other.”

Boda was quiet for a moment then, and even though Loki knew that the older man would never heed his advice, he still took comfort at being pulled in for a cuddle. Especially given how shaken he was. Thor furious was an absolutely terrifying sight. And also an oddly arousing one. Loki would have to find a way around whatever lies his idiot of a cousin had told him.

Hmmm, he looked up at Angrboda. It was no secret that Jarnsaxa was obsessed with the man. Angrboda didn’t want Jarnsaxa back, Loki knew this, but… he smiled to himself wickedly. He could kill two birds with one stone here. Oh this was **_perfect_**!


	18. Chapter 18

He started it the way that anybody in their right mind would start it, by getting super close to Angrboda during dinner. Jarnsaxa ate very clumsily, a look of pure fury never quite managing to leave his face.

Angrboda seemed emboldened by Loki’s sudden desire for PDA, because he reached over with a spoon full of food to put some in Loki’s mouth. Helblindi and Byleistr were understandably confused by this, but Byleistr was secretly happy. He believed in letting Loki fight his own battles, but that didn’t mean that he wanted Loki _back_ with that Angrboda monster. This new guy seemed nice enough.

Nobody paid much mind to Thor, because they were all understandably distracted by the weird scene in front of them. Well, almost nobody. Baldr looked over at his brother. Thor’s face betrayed no emotion, which was what scared Baldr so much. His brother was normally as easy to read as a book. Or was he still and was Baldr just not seeing it? He forced himself to dive in further. Thor, his usually vivacious brother, was trying to make himself small and unseen.

Baldr hadn’t ever wanted to entertain the possibility that Thor thought Loki was hot, let alone that Thor even **_liked_** Loki, but it got harder to deny with each day that passed. It made no sense, the two hardly knew each other! And yet, he had never seen his brother behave like this around anyone. It was as though by encountering Loki Thor’s body and mind had learnt an entirely knew language, one with different grammar rules completely unrelated to the first. Loki wasn’t Thor’s _artificial_ type, Baldr thought, but where it counted most, Loki was damn well Thor’s type and he knew it, dammit.

Loki was intelligent, independent, and witty to no end. Those were Sif’s personality traits, and she was the only other person whom he could ever consider pairing Thor with. But there was something different in this relationship (like, um, reciprocity? Because Baldr would never admit it out loud, but he always thought that it was kind of weird that everyone just assumed that Sif liked Thor. Last he’d checked she’d been mooning over Fandral and Hogun. He thought the three would make a particularly nice couple. They all brought invaluable elements to the relationship). Something about Loki that made him especially alluring to Thor.

Baldr hated this situation, hated it all. He hated that neither man knew what he wanted, he hated that they couldn’t be together, most of all, he hated himself for both _wanting_ **_and_** _not_ wanting Thor to get together with Loki. Wanting it made it feel like a betrayal to his own beloved, Karnilla, for if Thor were to take Loki home, father would _never_ allow him to marry Karnilla. Not wanting it however, that was a betrayal to Thor, his brother, a person he held near and dear to his heart.

He felt sick and excused himself from dinner. Honestly, he blamed his Aunt Freyja for this all. If she hadn’t spent so much time around him as a baby, then _maybe_ he wouldn’t be as sensitive to relationships as he was now.

.

Loki had not-so-quietly suggested that he had a book he wanted to show ‘Thiazi’ in the library. He saw how angry Jarnsaxa had gotten and took it in with glee. Served him right.

“Which book?” Angrboda asked as they began to walk away.

“A book on spellwork. I was hoping to get your opinion.”

Angrboda chuckled. “Love, if you don’t recognise it, then I won’t. I’ve already taught you everything I know.”

A glass shattered. Loki didn’t have to look backwards to know it was Jarnsaxa’s. What? Not his fault that Jarnsaxa was so untalented at magic it took a month to teach him how to make paint dry.

.

Thor didn’t allow the Jotnar to dote on him. He immediately walked to his rooms and took out the healing stones from his bag.

_“I’ve already taught you everything I know.”_ What did Thiazi mean by that? He knew, from Valkyrie, that clearly both his brother and the runt had had previous encounters with Thiazi, so what did this all mean? Were they co-conspirators or something? He should go to the library and find out, before they got their hands on something nasty that neither he nor his incredibly talented brother, Loptr, could fight.

.

Thor hid behind the bookshelves in the library, ready to do some good old fashioned reconnaissance. Sure, he could ask Valkyrie to do it because she was smaller than him (just like everyone on Asgard), but _someone_ had to guard Loptr and keep him safe lest these hooligans attack. And _yeah_ , **_maybe_** sending Baldr in here would have been a better idea, because he actually hung out in the library on a daily basis, but why risk innocent lives? He was all the cannon fodder he needed.

He peered through two books which he shifted apart just a smidgen. There Loki was with Thiazi, looking through a book. Thiazi stood behind Loki with his arms around Loki’s mid-section, grinding that insufferable jaw of his against Loki’s pale bare neck.

“It’ll work, I suppose, but merging our powers would be quite tricky.” Thiazi said finally. What?

“I have everything that we need to make a Shakran Circle, except for Pig’s Blood but I’m sure we could ask the cooks.”

Thiazi ran one of his big, long, rake-like hands through Loki’s hair. “Pet… I don’t know how safe this is. One faux-pas and you could be severely injured.”

Loki chuckled. “If this stupid storm doesn’t end soon I’ll injure myself.”

“Just wait a week, if the snow dies down a bit I could blast a sun-spot through and we’d have a clear path to my hut.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

Thiazi sighed. “Love,” _Love!? Loki hated the man, and yet Thiazi called him_ ** _‘Love’!?_** _“_ the only ways through this storm, if it carries on like this, are all terrible ideas. And I’m still mad at you for the blood seidr, you know better than to use it where it’s unnecessary.”

“I want to leave, it _was_ necessary. Honestly, if I have to spend another damned day in this damned place, with **_him_** of all people.”

Helblindi walked in the room. Thor cursed the lumbering giant as his ill-timing.

“Loki! Where are you!? It is bed time!” Honestly, the gall of that man! “Thiazi, I hope you are not doing anything immoral with my br-friend.” What, Helblindi? Huh? What were you going to say? Bride? Broodmare? _Bitch_ , maybe!?

“I am coming, Helblindi Prince.” Loki rolled his eyes. He placed a kiss on Thiazi’s lips and left. Thiazi paused for a moment, regarding the book, and then walked out. As soon as the coast was clear, Thor ran and grabbed the book and ran back to his chambers.

.

Oh yeah, Angrboda had known that that wretched prince of brotherfucking had been right behind him, he’d simply chosen to ignore his presence.

After all, when it came down to it, Loki would choose him anyways. So what was the harm in entertaining one of Loki’s many, many admirers?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters will be VERY LONG and contain most of the rest of the plot, be warned.


	19. Chapter 19

Thor tossed and turned in his bed last night. I taught you everything I know could mean a lot of things, couldn’t it? After all, if what Thiazi knew about seidr was a subset of Loki’s seidr knowledge set, then he would have technically taught Loki nothing. And after all, Loptr had said that Loki wasn’t very good at seidr, and he’d only seen Thiazi doing simple things, so he supposed that neither of them really knew what they were talking about. After all, they wanted to _merge_ powers to beat this snowstorm, and they probably intended to do so by merging them with Loptr’s powers, since he was the best seidrmadr in the land. Thiazi was worried about it harming Loki, usually spells like that only hurt the weakest of the bunch, so maybe Thiazi didn’t know all that much _and_ Loki was ungifted in seidr? After all, he hadn’t even managed to make that damned plant grow without Thor’s help.

And what was that whole thing with them acting all lovey-dovey to one another? Thor knew, because Valkyrie had told him and because Loptr had never denied it (from what Valkyrie had told him) that they were both worried by his presence, so why was Loki flirting with him all of a sudden? Was it a defence mechanism? Thor wouldn’t blame Loki, Thiazi seemed terrifying.

He was thinking too much, he needed to sleep.

.

Thor escorted Loptr to breakfast. They didn’t usually talk much, he loved his brother dearly but he wasn’t as bright as they said he was, oh well, people probably exaggerated _his_ own intelligence too.

And that was how they stumbled upon Loki in a nook, pinned to the wall with Thiazi going down on him. Thor averted his eyes immediately, but couldn’t get the scene off his mind. Loki’s head had been thrown back in ecstasy, his beautiful black tresses trailing down his shoulders, eyes shut and lips parted only just. Thiazi’s head had been flicking at the warm core that lay between Loki’s legs. Loki’s rag-dress had been pulled up, exposing his prick. Not too small, not too large, at about 6-7 inches hard it seemed _just_ right. Thor stomached the sudden wave of jealousy that washed over him.

Loptr let out a cough, no doubt unimpressed by the sight. “You two, this is a _public_ area.” He hissed, drawing attention to him and Thor’s presence.

Loki bolted upwards and yanked his rags down, face flushed. Thiazi seemed unapologetic with how slowly he got up. It was almost as if he was pulling away sarcastically.

They didn’t speak of it.

.

Angrboda had never gone down on _him_ with that intensity!

.

Then came he caught them _fucking_ in the library. Loki was bent in half, his legs by his ears at that bloody brute Thiazi plowed into him.

Baldr had wanted to show him a book that looked like one stolen from Asgard a century ago. This was very a very serious accusation that if true could potentially mean war between their realms, because it would mean that Jotnar had managed to infiltrate Asgard undetected.

Baldr babbled on about the significance about this while Thor stared unblinkingly at the sight before his eyes. Well, the sight that was to the corner behind the books that were in front of him. But the point was that he could see the scene just over the books in front of him.

.

Then, when Thor and Loptr were walking through the Greenhouse, as they often did.

Loki was on a table again, but this time Thiazi was watching him and wanking off as vines and creepers toyed with Loki’s sexual regions. Thor’s eyes widened at the size of the vines penetrating both Loki’s pussy and arsehole.

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” Loptr exploded, Thor dragged him out of there as his brother screamed profanities.

.

Thor caught Loki alone in a corridor by chance, but seized the opportunity to grab Loki by the shoulder tightly.

“Whatever it is, whatever game you are playing, it’s not working, so _stop_!”

“Whatever do you mean?” Loki’s eyes didn’t meet his, only making him more furious.

“You know exactly what I am talking about! You and Thiazi and your damned exhibitionism!”

Loki froze for a moment. “Look, I am sorry that you keep walking in on us, but where else are we supposed to couple? If we do it in either his or my room, then Helblindi will catch us.” And then Byleistr and Helblindi will gossip for a century or two about it non-stop. _And besides,_ you _can’t catch us there._

Thor shook his head furiously. “So you’re cheating on him, is that it?”

“What?”

“Helblindi. You two have been fucking for months and now you’re whoring yourself out with someone else. You make me sick.” Thor turned and left.

It took Loki a while to realise what Thor meant, and when he remembered his initial lie he blushed. _Fuck_!

.

Thor made sure to be extra cute with Loptr at dinner. He chatted with him endlessly and made it a point to not even shift his gaze in a Loki-dwardly direction.

“You know, I’ve never seen that pendant that father gave you.” Thor commented. It was _totally_ meant as a flex, a gift from the Allfather himself.“I know that they were supposed to be custom-designed for a reason, but I never managed to get information on _what_ they were supposed to represent. I know that part of it is Asgard, but the part of the pendant close to your chest is supposed to be something about you.”

“Oh,” Jarnsaxa blushed. “Um. I don’t have it.” He hadn’t seen it amongst the things that Laufey had laid out for him. He looked across the table at Loki and noticed that his cousin had also gone stock-still. _He_ probably had it, the rat. Well tough toenails, it was _rightfully_ Jarnsaxa’s and he would be retrieving it from his cousin right after this. If _he_ was going to take on the mantle of ‘Prince Loptr’ then _he_ got all of Loki’s old things, it was only fair.

.

Loki felt a sharp pull on his hair. Suddenly, he was painfully flung into a dark room and the door slammed shut. Oh he was _so_ going to kill Thor this time!

“Lights,” Jarmsaxa’s bitter voice rang out. _Oh_ , it was **_another_** pest. Oh well, if Loptr perished then Thor would _definitely_ have his wicked way with Loki as recompense, surely.

“I know you have it.”

“What?”

“That pendant that Odin gave you for your 100th.”

Fuck. Loki didn’t want to think to much of it, because he knew, _knew_ , with all of his heart that he detested his father and wanted to have nothing to do with either him or his plans… but there was something about that necklace that made him cradle it on cold stormy nights. As a child, it had been all he had known about the other half of his identity, and now it just felt _wrong_ to let go of it.

“I threw it down a river when I got it,” Loki said. “Into the Abass, right outside my window.” He kept his voice bitter, they didn’t call him Silvertongue for nothing. “If you want it so bad, I’m sure its buried in the ice there.”

Jarnsaxa cursed. “You _ingrate_! You always do this! Anytime someone does something nice for you, you throw it away! You don’t _deserve_ any of this, honestly!” He bitched.

“What? I don’t deserve _what_?” Loki was so tired of his cousin’s antics.

“This!” Jarnsaxa snapped, gesturing around wildly. “Any of this- you don’t even want it, you’re never grateful! For _anything_! You’re the son of Odin Allfather, the most powerful man in the Nine, and you don’t appreciate it! Angrboda’s head over heels for you and you don’t appreciate it! Your mother is the main King of Jotunheimr and he didn’t even kick you out!”

“Out of _Kingly_ duty, not any paternal love!”

“Still, he _kept you_!”

“He took you in too!”

“Out of pity! And as a companion for **_you_**! Laufey loves you and you don’t even realise it, you don’t deserve any of it! Your father gives you a priceless amulet, **_acknowledges you_** , and you **_toss it in a lake_**! Your _mother’s_ _spouse_ raises you like you’re one of his own children-!”

“Do not talk to me about Farbauti.” Loki’s voice cut through Jarnsaxa’s bitter tirade. “You may think the Norns are unfair on you, but it is only because you choose what you wish to see.”

“Oh, really? And what is it? What about the life of the Grand Prince Loptr of Jotunheimr is it that burdens your little head? Was it too much food? Too warm a room to sleep in? The love of your siblings? Was it the name your parents so lovingly chose for you? Huh? Say your piece.” Jarnsaxa seethed.

And then Loki walked up to Jarnsaxa and placed an arm around his cousin’s neck, drawing him close. Jarnsaxa stilled, knowing full-well that his cousin was stronger than he was in both seidr and physical rawness (what a bad frostbitch, how on _Jotunheimr_ had Angrboda ever chosen Loki over him?).

“Do you know what it’s like,” Loki’s voice came out low and hoarse, as though he was afraid someone might hear them, “to have someone in charge of your wellbeing running his hands all over you? _Touching you_ where he shouldn’t? Taking joy in checking for your virginity, playing with your parts, huh? Farbauti sure _loves_ runts.” His voice came out in an ominously-humorous tone.

Jarnsaxa shoved Loki away from him with force. “You lie, you sick wench! Farbauti is a virtuous man and a good mother to his sons, you are just a spiteful, jealous gnat. There is something twisted in you, stay away from my family.” Jarnsaxa walked out, shivers running down his spine. That voice… he had never heard that tone of voice from Loki. He shook it off. His cousin was a notorious manipulator, he was surely trying to gain Jarnsaxa’s sympathy. After all, if it were genuine, it wouldn’t have come up in a fight, it would have come up back when they were still on good terms.

.

The snow was beginning to clear. **_Finally_**!

And with it, Loptr finally, _finally_ fell into heat. Thor groomed himself, checking his reflection twice in the mirror. He was going to be bedding his brother, he could do this, he could do this.

He walked to Loptr’s rooms, deep in the heart of the castle. Thor thought that it was sweet, it made it seem like Loptr was the core of the kingdom’s soul.

He walked into Loptr’s rooms and immediately started disrobing, Loptr was writhing on the bed in front of him.

“Thor? _Thor_! Oh goodness, mmm,” Loptr worked a finger in and out of his tight, juicy cunt, fully on display for Thor. “Thor, get over here and fuck me, mmm, yes,” he pinched his nipple and bucked up his hips. “Want you to breed me, _mmm_.”

It was the sexiest thing that Thor had ever seen. Loptr was so beautiful. He could do this and be done with this realm.

He walked over to the bed and breached his brother’s cunt, rocking in. The tightness was exquisite.

This felt wrong. Thor felt sick. _Why why why_?! This made no sense! For over a month **_before_** this expedition had even taken place, he had simply wanted to come to Jotunheim, breed his brother, and get home to Sif. This right here was the _dream_! So why wasn’t this working for him.

His penis was taking too long to get hard, he highly doubted he was up to shooting… it all seemed so very wrong for a fertility god. Shaking his head, he doubled down, plowing in harder. He bent down and kissed Loptr’s soft lips and then moved down to Loki’s nipples.

Loki writhed beneath him, and he was merciless. He pinched the runt’s clit and twisted it horribly. “Oh, mmm, Loki." He moaned out.

“Oh _Thor_ ” Loptr's voice rang back, too lost in the moment to have realised that Thor had not only just called him the wrong name, but had also clearly been fantasising about someone else. Thor felt sick, and as he climaxed within his brother, he withdrew from his body, tiptoeing outside of the room gently so as not to wake him. He’d be placated for a few hours, Thor knew this from all the books he had read regarding the subject matter. Those were a few hours for Thor to just unwind on his own, because clearly the only problem here was the stress that he felt in regards to living up to his forebear’s legacy. He just needed a simple nap.

.

Tyr headed out to a bar. It had been snowing for almost two months by now, and he had serious cabin fever. Brunnhilde accompanied him, of course, for safety reasons and because she liked to knock back the occasional glass or two.

It seemed that other Jotnar were out rejoicing the good (well, **_better_** ) weather as well. There was much merriment and festivities. Tyr longed for his wife and unborn child. He couldn’t wait to be back home with Ingrid and Tyria. Tyrina? Tyrsa? Tyrsala? They were all such beautiful names. Tyrd? That one was pretty, the ‘y’ in its spelling made it look exotic on his page of names. He had a feeling that Ingrid would be quite taken with it.

“Why don’t we challenge some Jotnar in a game of Poker?” Brunnhilde posed, three kegs of beer down her stomach. “Come on, it will be fun.”

“Undoubtedly.” Tyr followed her to a table where they were playing. “Space for two more?” He asked.

“Aye, sure, take a seat,” the old Jotunn gestured him down. Behind them some rather rude and noisy Jotnar were having a conversation. Tyr tried his best to ignore them and enjoy the game, but they were just _so loud_.

“Ha! He ran away! You should have seen the look on Laufey’s face.”

“Serves the old fool right! I’d do the same if I were in his position!”

“Who’d they replace him with?”

“Jarnsaxa.”

“And the Asgardians don’t know?”

“Ha! Prince Thor thinks there’s a family resemblance.” Brunnhilde and Tyr’s eyes locked at that statement. What the…?

“Has anyone seen him yet?”

“No. The leading theory is that he is dead. But there are two runts who arrived in the palace during the storm. Who knows, maybe one is him? He’s supposed to be a good shapeshifter.”

“Bah! With Loptr’s powers he would have been three realms away before the snowstorm even hit, he’s probably in another galaxy as we speak!”

They had to get to the palace and tell Thor, **_pronto_**!

.

Baldr couldn’t take it anymore, he needed to intervene. He took his opportunity the moment that Tyr was out, because if he caught Baldr then he wouldn’t put it above his merciless half-brother to kill Baldr in his interception. He’d murdered others for less.

“Brother, are you alright? You seem unwell, tell me, what is ailing you?” Thor asked. Baldr smiled a little at the irony. A pale and ghostly Thor asking _Baldr_ what was wrong with him.

“You are, brother.” At Thor’s confused look, he elaborated. “I have failed you.”

“How so.”

“For not encouraging you to see the truth.” Baldr sighed. “But I fear that it might be too late now.”

“How do you mean?”

“Loki,” Baldr snapped. “You’re in love with him. And I don’t mean those shams of love you’ve had with other people, I mean _love-love_.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“But it’s true.” Baldr looked at Thor teary-eyed. “It’s entirely true. Since day one you’ve given him more attention than necessary. You are upset anytime he mentions being with someone else. We _all_ noticed how you’ve acted around Thiazi since discovering that Loki was scared of him. You’ve helped him out before. All of this for someone you needn’t have even said hello too-”

“We-”

“We did _not_ need him in that storm, Thor. Mother’s Golden Compass would have been enough and both you and I know it.”

“We needed his seidr for the fire.”

“We could have lit our own.” Baldr said. “And I just can’t- I can’t live with myself, knowing that I’ve been ignoring it and hoping you wouldn’t realise that he’s the love of your life, all because I want father to let me marry Karnilla.” And then Baldr started to cry. Thor was admittedly a little frustrated. There were times when Baldr could be a downright drama queen.

“What do you mean, about you and Karnilla?”

“Father-Father promised me that I could have his blessing to marry her if you completed your duty.”

“ _Done_!”

“But I don’t _want_ **_you_** to be miserable for the rest of your life because you met _the one_ and walked away from him, because it will plague you and you _will_ go insane.”

“You’ve spent too much time with Aunt Freyja,” Thor shook his head. “Brother, there is absolutely nothing going on between Loki and I.”

“Oh, really? So he _hasn’t_ been plaguing your thoughts day in and day out?”

“That means nothing. He is a person of interest, that does not make him a paramour.”

Alright then, so you _didn’t_ follow him and Thiazi to the library that night? So you **_weren’t_** spying on them having sex while I tried to tell you about a _valuable book_ that had been **_stolen_** , and was potentially an act of war? So you didn’t try to grow a flower for his sake? So you **_didn’t_** lie about Loptr being alright with him hanging out with you two in a bid to spend more time with him?” Baldr’s eyes were big and pleading. “Because Brunnhilde told me about Loki wanting to ask you to kill Thiazi, and she told me that when she told you you looked ready to do so.”

Thor flustered. “None of this means anything. If there is any attraction that I hold for him, then it is merely physical.”

“Really, because he matches none of your other girlfriends in appearance, save for maybe Sif, but she’s got blonde hair and breasts.”

Thor growled. “What are you getting at, Baldr? Do you realise how ridiculous you sound? Loki is a peasant, a Jotunn, and a repeat cheater, and you want me to, what, get down on one knee and propose?”

Baldr, it seems, heard something entirely different to the words that left his mouth. “I know you’re scared, traumatised even, Thor. But what happened between Karnilla and I is different, she was branded an enemy of Asgard long before I ever started courting her. The worst you can say for Loki is that he is a foreign peasant. Please brother, I implore you, for once in your life, do not worry of what father will think,” Baldr’s eyes, normally gentle and warm, bore into Thor with such ferocity that it made Thor question how he could be the God of Light, Joy and Purity. “Please brother…”

“And what makes you think I would even want to take Loki? I know that I can only have one child in each realm, and I’ve already made my bed, quite happily, with Loptr.”

“Oh really, because he’s in the middle of his heat right now, aching for your member, just how you like ‘em.” Baldr’s eyes almost looked cruel. “And here you are, as far as you can get for him.” Baldr poked Thor in the chest. “Listen to this. And Thor?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t trust Loptr.”


	20. Chapter 20

The snow was what slowed them down. Even though they were only about 7 kilometres from the castle, it had taken them four hours to walk one way, and it was going to take them four hours to walk back the other. This was a nightmare. They shouldn’t have snuck out, they should have told the princes, at least them they would have had dogs and sleds.

.

Thor walked back to Loptr’s chambers for round two and accidentally walked past an ashen and tired looking Loki.

“What is the matter?” Thor frowned. Baldr was wrong, but it still wasn’t nice to leave someone who looked sad.

“None of your business.” Loki snapped back at him.

“Come off of it.” A tight grip enveloped Loki’s wrist. “Come now, what is wrong?”

“Why do you care anyways, Thor? Just leave me alone!”

Loki was stunned when Thor did just that, clearly having had thought that he would have to put up more of a fight. Thor seized his opportunity to speak.

“Loki, I am sorry. For everything.”

“What do you mean?” Loki looked suspicious of him, which was bad, but he hadn’t run away either which was great.

“For everything that I have done, for all of my actions towards you.” Thor’s voice was solemn.

“ _All_ of them?”

“Well, maybe not _all.”_ Thor chuckled sadly. “The truth is that I have been battling my feelings of lust towards you, as I am on official business.”

“Lust?” Loki smirked. “You find me attractive, Thunderer?”

“Oh please, I went to see Helblindi during his heat, you were **_literally_** begging for me to fuck you. ‘Oh, Thor! Please, it hurts so bad!’” He mimicked in a high-pitched voice, but his grin cast aside any idea of any maliciousness behind the mockery, despite that he felt a low burn in his stomach at the memory of it. An unpleasant feeling, like acid eating away at his skin.

Loki’s cheeks were aflame. He didn’t remember this! “Why tell me any of this now?”

“I do not know.” Thor admitted. “I suppose, since I shall be leaving by the week’s end, and you no doubt sooner on account of the good weather, that I lose nothing from this. That I might as well make amends before leaving for good.” Thor turned with a heavy heart to go and fulfil his duty as Prince of the Nine, but a voice called out.

“Thor, wait.”

“What is it?”

“Thor, I was in heat, during my stay with Helblindi,” Loki admitted.

“Oh? Did he fuck you good then?”

“Uh, his heat is not very tuned in to smaller people,” _he’s my_ ** _brother_** _!_ [well, so is Thor, technically]. “But the point remains… if we shall be parting ways soon, and there is no chance of catching, then it really wouldn’t hurt, would it?”

Was Thor imagining what he was hearing. “What?”

“One fuck for the road.”

“What about Thiazi?”

Loki snorted. “Thiazi? We’ve been on-again-off-again for years, and we’re not back together, we’re just passing time. He knows I have no desire for a relationship anytime soon.” He _had_ told Angrboda 1072398400 times since they’d resumed fucking that this was merely a ‘friends-with-benefits’ situation. And the benefit had been to get Jarnsaxa to start wanting to spend more time with Angrboda, but hey, his plan had worked out in a different way, he supposed.

“Alright then,” Thor said slowly. _What was he doing!? This was beneath him! And who knew if what Loki was saying was even true?! He could be lying to Thor and cheating on Thiazi and Helblindi with Thor! This was amoral, it was completely wrong!_ “I have to fuck Loptr first.”

“And I’ll be waiting in your rooms,” Loki winked slyly at Thor before sashaying away, the way his ass moved gave Thor an instant erection.

.

Thor’s objective was to be out of there as quickly as possible. He smiled warmly at his brother, and then pounded him into the mattress as fast as he could, thoughts of what he was about to do to Loki spurring him on. As soon as he came, he raced down the hallway, pants still down, still sporting an erection, nearly tripping over himself.

He burst into his room, and found Loki on the bed, naked save for Thor’s cape which he kept wrapped around him. The sight of the red fabric turned him on like no other and he dove down onto the bed to begin littering Loki’s body with kisses.

Loki tried to move his limbs and reciprocate, but Thor was having none of it. He was going to worship Loki like no other before, leave him behind with only the memory of the indents on his skin and a Thor’s-dick shaped hole in cunt.

Thor lowered a hand to begin prepping him, but found him wet and open. The idea of Loki having had been taken by Thiazi (while it would have been fair given what Thor had just done to Loptr) ignited his rage and he kissed Loki down with such fervour that the man barely had the chance to get out the words ‘don’t worry, I prepped myself already.’ Well, that was a relief, Thor supposed, but his actions were no less heated nonetheless.

Thor mumbled against his skin. “I hardly think you could have prepared yourself enough in such a short window.”

“My seidr would stretch my insides to keep me safe.”

“Very well,” Thor ground his penis twice against Loki’s prick, kissing down his neck. “Let us see how you handle this.” Thor ground his dick against Loki’s cunt, letting it slicken in the fluids before plunging right in down to the hilt. Loki’s beautiful body jerked against his, but his surprisingly warm entrance readily welcomed Thor’s penis, muscles flexing welcomingly around him. It fit like a glove.

“Are you alright?” Thor asked after a moment.

“Yes, keep going.”

“Gladly.”

Thor began thrusting in and out of Loki, the warmth of his core drawing Thor in like a vacuum. Beneath him Loki moaned and writhed and held onto Thor’s back. Thor moaned in delight himself at the feeling of Loki raking his nails down his strong back. Thor sped his thrusts up, relishing in the way he was able to make Loki come undone. His hand found Loki’s prick and he began to jerk him off.

“Thor, Thor, Thor!” Loki chanted, though it almost sounded like he was begging him.

“Loki!” Thor moaned as he thrust in four more times before his cock started pulsating and his cum started spraying around inside of Loki. Loki’s cock did a little bob, as though it were an actor bowing, and began to spurt out its own ropes of cum. Probably not as plentiful as Thor’s, but pleasant to watch in their own right. Cute, almost. It turned Thor on and made him hungry for more. Maybe next time he ought to take Loki in front of a mirror and make him watch himself come all over himself. That was a pleasant thought. Sleep overcame him as he moved up to kiss Loki’s cheek, before resting his head on a pillow and falling right into it.

.

Jarnsaxa woke up after having had passed out. He checked the wall-clock, it was 5pm two days into his heat and he was lucid, that could only mean one thing.

He grinned from ear to ear. He was _pregnant_! **_Yes_**!

.

Loki woke up from his nap on Thor’s bed with a smile on his face. His eyes opened, his heat flat on the pillow, faced upwards.

A pair of menacing red eyes stared right back down at him. There was an indescribable expression on Angrboda’s face then.

_Oh no_!

Loki scrambled up, waking Thor. “What’s going on?” He asked Loki. Loki pointed a shaky hand upwards Thor’s eyes drifted to see Thiazi staring down at him.

Suddenly, the sheets around them sprang up to wrap themselves around them. Loki began kicking violently, and Thor, sensing the urgency in his actions, did the same.

“ _Alomartez!_ ” Loki begged, the sheets turned into ash. Loki sprang up and raced out of the room, stark naked. He ran to the Greenhouse, at least there he wouldn’t be putting others at risk, and it was unlikely that if his seidr slipped he would reveal himself.

As soon as he got in, he slammed the door shut and started conjuring shards of ice with he sealed the doors, before quickly grabbing a bedleigh from a space pocket and flinging it over himself. He’d rather not fight naked, thank you very much.

Angrboda’s presence was made known when the door burst open, shards of glass flying everywhere. Loki pulled up a shield to stop any from hitting him. Suddenly tendrils were wrapping around him, Loki made to burn them off but was surprised to find that he couldn’t. He struggled in them, his seidr wasn’t working. He turned around. It was the Blood Lily.

Angrboda let out a low laugh. “Fool, you didn’t know that the Blood Lily is seidr-inhibiting, did you?” He began to advance upon Loki. “You deserve this, you do. You deserve to feel pain, you slut. You’re incorrigible! First you spread your legs for Jarnsaxa, then that whore, then that Trader, then that Wilderman, and now an _Asgardian_!? Your own **_kin_**!”

  
“You forgot you, you abomination!” Loki spat back. Angrboda slapped him across the face, the contact of skin on rings of sharp metal leaving behind scratches that reddened at the tips before beginning to bleed.

“I’m the best fuck you’ve ever had, you two-bit whore!”

And then suddenly Loki was freed of the vines. He heard the crack of Thunder following his release, and narrowly missed Mjolnir as it made its journey towards Angrboda’s head.

Angrboda dodged the hammer and sent lightning of his own directed at Thor. _Fool, Thor was the God of Lightning, you’re just a seidrmadr who knows how to conjure it._ Loki scrambled up and immediately used his seidr to begin flinging pots at Angrboda’s head. Growling, and facing an attack on two fronts, Angrboda used that impressive seidr of his to send fire spilling all around the room, casting mirror spell after mirror spell to deflect Thor and Loki’s attacks back onto them. They didn’t call him the Forest Witch for nothing, and he wasn’t going to let that damned prophecy happen, no, nu uh. Loki was going to die, and Angrboda would follow by killing himself thereafter.

Loki froze the fire before it could hurt them and sent shot after shot of pure seidr at Angrboda. Angrboda deflected them easily and redirected one up at the ceiling, causing it to collapse. Loki flung the falling pieces in a random direction, but away from the battle, no sense in letting someone get hurt on glass. He wasn’t delusional enough, even in the heat of the moment, to believe for even a second that if he were to throw the glass at Angrboda that the glass wouldn’t wind up wedged in him and Thor instead.

The fight grew mobile. Angrboda’s attack seemed mostly aimed at Loki. He sent strike after strike at Loki, backing him up. Loki realised vaguely that they were headed in the direction of the castle. Good, there were more places in there to hide, and it was more sturdy. And besides, the guards would surely help him fight off his lunatic-ex.

Loki closed his eyes, envisioning a clear route to the castle in the now only light snow, and found himself in the main atrium, somewhat close to the entrance of the castle. Angrboda would undoubtedly be upon him in seconds, he needed to think fast. Loki spotted the statues littering the place: great, big, giant things, relics of his ancestors. Great, he could use these as automatons, cannon-fodder while he took down Angrboda from behind.

He got to work spelling them. Wow, it sure had been a lot of time since he’d disappeared. Angrboda was taking long to find him… too long.

He felt the ceiling drop, not on him, just a change in the air. He immediately brought his hands up to stop it. It was **_heavy_** , but the instant that he tried to find somewhere to put it, he felt a lock. His chest constricted and his knees buckled. Angrboda meant to smother him to death.

.

Jarnsaxa was utterly perplexed by the commotion he heard. Ecstatic to tell Thor the good news about his pregnancy, however, he quickly forgot any sense of danger upon seeing Thor run up to him.

“Be-Brother, what is the matter?”

“Loptr! You are out of heat?”

“Yes, I am pregnant!” He smiled at Thor.

“Excellent, we need your help!”

“What is the matter.”

“Thiazi!” Jarnsaxa paled. Oh no. Not Angrboda. Angrboda was the love of his life, the one he was destined to be with, but even he knew that if Angrboda was on a rampage the wisest thing to do was to briefly flee the Realm you were on. “He is attacking us. He means to kill us.”

“Where is he?”

“Loki is holding him off.” Shit.

“Well then we must flee. Thiazi is a danger unto himself and unto all those who are unfortunate to be caught in one of his mood’s wakes.”

“But you are the most powerful seidrmadr in the Nine! Everyone constantly says so!” _Yeah, Loki might be_ ** _after_** _Angrboda, but in case you haven’t noticed, I am_ ** _not_** _your real brother._

What Jarnsaxa _wanted_ to do was to dissuade Thor, he opened his mouth and meant to say was ‘it’s too dangerous, think of the baby’, instead, he made a Freudian slip. “I cannot fight Angrboda.” He had thought he had only thunk it. Apparently he had not.

“Angrb- _that’s_ Angrboda! You told me he was weak!”

“I lied, I did not want you to worry.”

“Well, if you won’t step up to save one of your citizens, I will.” Thor said, angrily. “Baldr was right, you know. I can’t pinpoint it but there’s something about you that is untrustworthy.” And with that Thor took off.

.

Loki was going to give out any second now. Angrboda smirked, his eyes glowing yellow rather than their natural red. Just a _little_ more force and Loki would be done for.

Byleistr was _pissed off_! He had been trying to take a nap, as he was used to doing, before the dinner that night to celebrate Jarnsaxa’s pregnancy, but there was a **_racket_** right outside of his room.

“Grr, what’s going on!?” He shouted at nobody in particular, opening his door and storming out into the hallway. His eyes widened as he took in the scene before him.

.

“Angrboda!” Thor’s voice came out like the thunder in a storm: loud, brash, commanding, and downright terrifying. His entire body was caked in blue and white from the raw electricity coursing both in and out of him. “Stop this mayhem at once!” Loki was near death, crumbling under the weight of all of that debris, Thor saw and realised. He knew what he had to do. He had to distract Angrboda long enough for Loki to get to safety, and he’d do it even if it meant killing that insufferable man. He’d never liked ‘Thiazi’ to begin with.

“Make me, bastard!” Angrboda cackled, the air around him starting to burn and exude toxic NO2 from all the heat that Angrboda was providing it. His seidr knew no bounds, he was a well-adjusted seidrmadr long before Loki had even been **_born_**.

Thor decided to do just that. He swung Mjolnir at Angrboda, but the damned giant simply moved out of the way by jumping onto the floor below. Thor sent bolt after bolt of lightning at Angrboda, and in his periphery he could see that it was helping Loki though not by much. He resisted the urge to shoot the columns to bring down Angrboda, realising that they’d likely only end up as constituents of Loki’s load.

And Loki? Loki felt like how he imagined that Atlas must feel, bearing the weight of the world. He felt a sympathy for that poor Titan that he never had before, holding up heavy objects for long periods of time totally blew.

Thor let Mjolnir pull him up to the same storey that Angrboda was on, ready to fight him, but the man simply cackled and vanished.

That cackling didn’t last very long. All of a sudden, Angrboda was slammed into the wall behind him. He wheezed, but knew he had broken at least two ribs from the force of it. He let go of the debris over Loki to heal himself, but the force that had slammed him inmerely slammed him in again and again and again.

Thor watched in fascinated horror as Byleistr pummelled the man to death, and then in sickening satisfaction as he heard the thud of Angrboda’s body dropping and hitting the floor, likely dead. With the force from above lifted from him, Loki was able to set the debris aside and stand up again.

“Loki!” Thor rushed towards him to make sure that he was okay.

“Don’t touch me!” Loki exclaimed, turning and making seidr-aided leaps up the stairless floors (the stairs were on the other side, but clearly that would have taken too long), all the way to where Byleistr stood next to an unsalvageable Angrboda. “Boda.” He whispered.

“Loki.” Even just that one word made his chest hurt beyond imagine, made him feel as though he were dying nine times faster, but he had to say it, if this was the last time. “Loki… love you.” Angrboda said, his eyes staring into Loki’s.

“I love you too, you maniacal bastard,” real tears shone in Loki’s eyes, as he bent forwards and kissed Angrboda’s head. Whatever Byleistr had done had done real damage to him, damage Loki wouldn’t have been able to fix, damage Thor’s healing stones wouldn’t have been able to fix either. Loki was no fool. There was no sense in trying to fix a torn-off limb with a collection of small, paper-cut sized plasters. He didn’t ask Byleistr why he’d done it, he just sat there sadly and watched the most complicated part of his complicated life lose the light in his eyes and fade into non-being. He closed his eyes to pay Angrboda a moment of respect, before picking himself up and depositing his body in a space pocket.

“Brother,” Byleistr’s voice was uncharacteristically kind.

“Brother?” Thor breathed, thoroughly confused.

“ ** _Brother_**!” Tyr’s arrival could not have possibly been at a better or more inappropriate time. “Brother! There is news I must tell you!”

“What has happened here!?” Loptr’s voice rang out.

“Silence, wench!”

“That is our brother,” Thor said, crossly. Cross at who though? Both of them, really. Cross at himself mostly. Loki was a wreck over something as stupid as a man who had tried to murder them both and here Thor was in desperate want to comfort him. Also, when Byleistr said ‘brother’ was that a camaraderie thing? He knew some nations did that, where all men were ‘brothers’ to one another, provided that relations were amicable.

“No, that is Jarnsaxa of the Nine!” Tyr announced boldly. “Cousin of Loptr, and son of Thrym.”

“How dare you accuse my court of such misconduct?” Laufey’s voice boomed out as he, Farbauti, Helblindi and Baldr emerged from a corridor. Baldr had gone to alert them of what sounded to be imminent danger, perhaps related to the length of that accursed snowstorm.

“Loptr’s hair colour is black.”

“I changed it, and still can, look,” ‘Loptr’ turned his hair black, he could do _that much_ seidr.

“ _Jarnsaxa of the Nine_ is a known seidrmadr, Thor, of course he can perform a trick like that. Come on Thor, were you yourself not curious as to why our ‘talented’ brother has yet to perform a remotely impressive trick so far?”

Well, now that Tyr mentioned it…

“And aside from that, he should have only had Laufey’s inheritance lines as that is the only Jotunn blood in him, possibly Bestla’s. Instead he has lines which resemble an amalgamation of both Laufey and Farbauti’s lines.”

“But he is the son of a king, you say.” Everyone knew Farbauti’s family was dead broke. Farmers, wasn’t it?

“That was a lie too. Farbauti is the brother to King Thrym of Thrymheim, who is in turn wedded to King Laufey’s brother.”

Thor turned to Laufey. “Is this true?” Laufey’s resigned expression was all the confirmation that he needed. “Baldr. Inform father of this immediately, the snow is low enough for Heimdall to teleport him.” He spun on Loki. “And you, mister, have some explaining to do. Cuff him.”


	21. Chapter 21

Thor descended into the dungeons where Loki was being held, healing stones in hand. He wasn’t stupid, he knew Loki was bruised and drained, Angrboda’s attack against him had been **_brutal._** _And yet he had still mourned the man’s death_ , not that Thor was jealous or anything.

Thor swung open the door to Loki’s cell. Thor didn’t necessarily want Loki all locked up or anything, but he couldn’t deny that the man was a flight risk, and it was clear to Thor that he held critical information.

It was also clear to Thor that if Angrboda was the one attacking, then only one other person on Jotunheimr could have held up against that spell. He felt his heart sink. This all could have gone so differently. If Loptr had just been honest with him, the real Loptr, not Jarnsaxa, maybe this _could_ have grown into something more.

He did his best not to think about it. He understood, of course, why Loptr had done what he had done, but it angered him nonetheless. Loptr was clever, there was no possible way that he hadn’t thought his actions through, no possible way that he couldn’t have known that what he had done would have resulted in **_war_**. He wasn’t angry with Laufey for trying to preserve peace, but what **_Loptr_** had done, ooh, it made his blood boil. He took a breath, best not to think about it. Not until father got here, not until talks had been held, not until he knew the official position that everyone was going to take on this. But he knew that in some way or the other, Loptr **_needed to be_** ** _punished_**.

“What are you doing here?” Loptr’s voice came out as hoarse.

“I’ve come to give you these, heal yourself with them.” He tossed them at Loptr. “We will have need for you in three or four hours.”

.

As the Asgardians poured into the castle, Thor’s mood only soured. With every Asgardian warrior who passed him, all that Thor could think about was how Loptr’s actions could have affected them, could have affected their families. Volstagg, his best friend of a millennium, passed him.

“Thor, how fare thee? We have heard word on Asgard that the runt you bedded was not in fact your brother.”

“Nay, he isn’t.” Thor shook his head.

“Worry not, lad. The Allfather will sort all of this out.”

Frigga and Odin arrived together as always, holding one another’s hand, merry married couple that they were.

“Thor, sweetheart, I heard everything, are you alright?” Frigga rushed up to him. He loved her like a mother, even though she was not his own.

“I am alright, mother, thank you.” Frigga had forbidden Thor from ever calling her ‘mom’. She said that that was what he had called his birth mother upon arrival to Asgard, and that she couldn’t stand the thought of taking the place another so rightly deserved, regardless of how much she personally loved him. Thor personally thought that it was a stupid reason, but to quote Aunt Freyja: ‘You’re a boy, what do you know?’

“Laufey. Let us conduct this matter in private.” Odin nodded towards the king of Jotunheimr. Laufey heartily agreed.

.

The royal families stood together in Laufey’s gargantuan drawing room. Loki and Jarnsaxa’s presences were deemed ‘important to the meeting’ by Thor, because Laufey didn’t know yet.

“What has happened?” Odin asked.

“Our son has run away.” Laufey stated. “I did not wish to start a war against Asgard, so I had my nephew, Jarnsaxa, pose as Loptr.”

“A peasant!” Odin snapped. “Do you realise that that would invalidate the bloodline.”

“Not a peasant, father,” Tyr piped up. “Jarnsaxa is the son of King Thrym of Thrymheimr, Farbauti’s brother.”

“So Farbauti is not common,” Odin’s eye blinked. “Well, then we can still fix this. Thor will sire a child on Helblindi or Byleistr.”

“Jarnsaxa is already pregnant.” Farbauti hissed, unwilling to let harm come to his sons. “You know the rules.”

Oh yes, Odin knew the rules. He also knew that it was wrong to force someone to abort a child, so he wasn’t even going to try that avenue. “Miscarriages are common,” Odin pointed out, wearily. “We shall accept Jarnsaxa’s child as ward, but if a miscarriage occurs Thor will come back here and he _will_ bed Helblindi.”

“Agreed.” Laufey looked at his son, heatbrokenly.

“That is not necessary, father.” Everyone turned to Thor, confused beyond belief.

“Thor…” Odin’s voice warned of swift punishment towards his heir.

“Loki is not who he says he is. _He_ is Prince Loptr of Jotunheimr.” Thor announced. Loki’s eyes widened, he looked betrayed though he had no right to. He was a selfish, selfish man, and Thor didn’t care if this revelation brought him pain.

Odin, a well-practiced seidrmadr, and probably the most powerful person in the Nine, waved his hand over the boy, not that it would have taken much seidr to undo his disguise. Loki might be a shapeshifter, but it was really more form-morphing than cosmetic shapeshifting. He could shift into an animal or switch genders, but there would always be a **_true_** form he held in each species/gender, one that dictated his colour scheme and features.

The Loptr that Thor had spied in Helblindi’s chambers emerged. Regal-looking, beautiful beyond doubt, in a sly and dangerous way. Laufey looked murderous.

“I apologise, Allfather, I was unaware of this. He is a shapeshifter and none on Jotunheimr is skilled enough at seidr to have noticed.” Bull, Loptr didn’t look **_that_** different.

“I do not blame you. I understand.”

“He shall be punished accordingly, for all of the trouble he has caused he shall be executed.” Laufey swore.

Frigga shot up. “That is a child of Odin, the blood of the house of Bor runs firmly through him. Punish him as you will, but you may not execute him. It would be an act of war.”

“Wife-”

“Odin, he is an _Asgardian Citizen_! He will not be executed on foreign soil! And he has committed no crimes on Asgard, so he may not be extradited there to face judgement, don’t even think about it! Besides, he is royalty, and kin-slaying is a crime on any planet.” Frigga reminded, fierce as ever.

Thor wanted to tell his mother to shut up. But honestly, he was just going to let her do whatever the fuck he wanted. Sure, Loptr was about to get away with nearly being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, but whatever.

“Banishment, then.” Laufey declared. “Loptr will be banished from Jotunheimr permanently, and cut off from our family.”

Thor chanced a glance at the man. His eyes were of steel, unrepentant, Thor should have guessed. Everything he had done had been all about him. Even trying to seduce Thor, that had been all about him. It could have ended in war if he had gotten pregnant. Thor wanted to kill him.

Byleistr and Helblindi looked decidedly less pleased but said nothing. Thor felt anger rise in his gut. Did Loptr not realise that _they_ could have been harmed too if a war had broken out? No, he must have, he wasn’t the type _not_ to have realised that, he simply didn’t care that he could have been responsible for the death of his brothers, brothers that clearly cared a lot for _him_.

“Asgard will seek compensation for all that has occurred.”

“Oh beloved Allfather, take whatever you need.” Laufey’s voice was tired.

“We intend to.”

.

They walked away with a wagon-full of precious jewels, the price paid for deception, Thor supposed, glumly. He just wanted to go home and take a big, long nap and forget about everything that had just happened.

Growing up, he had heard cautionary tales of the Jotnar, how they were all big, lumbering monsters. It was clear to Thor now that the Jotnar were not all, in fact, monsters, because of all the ones he’d met the only monstrous one had been the Half-Jotunn-half-Asgardian.

Loptr hadn’t even looked a little sorry as they’d led him off to the Bifrost to be deposited in Svaartalfheim. He hadn’t cared, he’d walked there haughtily as ever, and it made Thor’s blood boil. After all the death and destruction that they had just witnessed, Loptr still cared for no one but himself. Thor was grateful that Jotunheimr’s new official ward at least seemed to care about _his_ people. Jarnsaxa was a good Ambassador for Asgard, despite not being Asgardian.

.

From the moment that Farbauti had made that comment about having sex with runts, thoughts had been whirring through Laufey’s mind.

Had he ever… thought about doing that with… Loptr? He had no real reason to suspect, but memories kept replaying themselves through his mind. Memories of Farbauti being all touchy-feely with Loptr, seating him in his lap. They all occurred when Loptr was young though, very young, so it probably never happened.

But then he had seen the look in Farbauti’s eyes when Loki had been revealed as Loptr, a surprise to them all. It had confirmed all of Laufey’s worst suspicions over the past few weeks.

“Lover, what is wrong?” Farbauti asked, walking into their room, tired.

“I want a divorce.” Laufey’s voice carried such finality that Farbauti didn’t even know what to say in the moment.

.

Byleistr was still in shock over what had happened, despite two days having had passed. He’d heard the name Angrboda, connected it to Thiazi, saw Loki in trouble, and then before he knew what he was doing, he was beating Angrboda senseless.

He had seen that look in Loki’s eyes. Loki would never forgive him for this one. And now Loki was banished, he would never see him again, Loki would die thousands of millennia later still hating Byleistr for this and there was nothing he could do, nothing that he could say to end that hatred. He had to find Loki, as soon as the coast was clear. He just _had to_!

.

Frigga had been confused when her old instructor, Verdandi (odd to use the word ‘old’ when someone looked younger than you) had contacted her upon Thor’s departure for Jotunheimr and had asked her to conjure a storm powerful enough to keep Thor stuck there. She hadn’t wanted to do it at first, but had been ensured that it was imperative to Thor finding true happiness. She had been confused beyond belief, but when she had gotten to Jotunheimr, the moment that she laid eyes on Loki she knew it.

And Norns help her, if it took all the seidr and spankings in the world to get Thor to realise that Loki was the one for him, she was going to be casting spells on him and spanking him all day.

Her not-technically-baby deserved to be happy. Especially given all the happiness he had brought her family.

End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whooo! Done! Sequel next! :)
> 
> Thing is, I don't think the sequel will be here for a while. I have exams these next two weeks, after which I'm done till like Sept-Oct, so I might be taking a break for these two weeks (MIGHT, because I write to chill out, so I MIGHT update from now until my last paper, it is just unlikely)
> 
> Take care and stay safe. I hope that you're all in good health!
> 
> GGJG


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